Afghan A = thru 2004Afghan B
2005-2007Afghan C
2008-2010Afghan D
2011-2013Return to homeAfghan Online Press: http://www.aopnews.com/
Revol. Women's Assoc.: http://www.rawa.org/
Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan_timelineAfghanistan was also known as Ariana or Bactria in
ancient times and as Khorasan in the Middle Ages. Pathans, a
Pashto-speaking people, make up half the population of the country
and a large part of Pakistan's population. Pashto is the native
language.
(WSJ, 10/1/01, p.A1)
The Hazara people are centered in Bamiyan province, east of Kabul.
They are the remnants of a 13th century Mongol invasion and are at
the bottom of the social hierarchy. They are Shiite Muslims and
opposed to the Taliban.
(SFC, 3/18/98, p.A10)(WSJ, 10/1/01, p.A1)
Afghanistan has had three principal names each of which has lasted
for centuries. The three principal names: Aryana in antiquity,
Khurasan in the medieval era, and Afghanistan in modern times, have
distinguished this land throughout its history. At times
Herat, Bactria, and Kabul have had kingdoms of their own.
(www.afghan, 5/25/98)
The main languages are Dari and Pashtu. The population is
16,500,000. Its area is 251,773 sq. mi.
(NG, V184, No. 4, Oct. 1993, p. 66)
Afghanistan’s Helmand province is about the size of West Virginia.
(Econ, 7/1/06, p.23)40Mil BC The entire Tibetan
Plateau underwent major uplifting. Vast ranges rose from the
Himalayas on the east to Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush and Iran’s Elburz
mountains on the west.
(SFC, 5/19/06, p.B7)

50000BC-20000BC Archaeologists have identified
evidence of stone age technology in Aq Kupruk, and Hazar Sum. Plant
remains at the foothill of the Hindu Kush mountains indicate, that
North Afghanistan was one of the earliest places to domestic plants
and animals.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

3000BC-2000BC Bronze might have been invented in
ancient Afghanistan around this time. True urban centers rose in two
main sites in Afghanistan--Mundigak, and Deh Morasi Ghundai.
Mundigak (near modern day Kandahar) had an economic base of wheat,
barley, sheep and goats. Also, evidence indicates that Mudigak could
have been a provincial capital of the Indus valley civilization.
Ancient Afghanistan was a crossroads between Mesopotamia, and other
Civilizations.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

c2500BC Aryan followers of King Yama crossed the
Oxus River from Central Asia into Tajikistan and created a new
calendar with the new year (Now Roz, Now-Ruz) marked by spring.
(SSFC, 3/31/02, p.A22)

2000BC-500BC Aryan tribes lived in Aryana (Ancient
Afghanistan). The City of Kabul is thought to have been established
during this time. Rig Veda may have been created in Afghanistan
around this time. Evidence of early nomadic iron age in Aq Kapruk
IV.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

c1500BC-1200BCE The Persian prophet Zoroaster
(Zarathustra) founded the religion known as Zoroastrianism. The
principal beliefs included the existence of a supreme deity called
Ahura Mazda and a cosmic struggle between the spirit of good, Spenta
Mainyu, and the spirit of evil, Angra Mainyu. Later adherents to
Zoroastrianism are represented by the Parsees of India and the
Gabars of Iran.
(Econ, 12/18/04,
p.35)(www.livius.org/za-zn/zarathustra/zarathustra.htm)

c1000BCE A Pashtun legend later held that about
this time King Saul’s son, Jeremiah, had a daughter named Afghana
whose descendants made their way to Central Asia.
(SFC, 10/20/01, p.A10)

c600BCE Zoroaster introduced a new religion in
Bactria (Balkh), also known as ancient Afghanistan. Zoroastrianism
is a Monotheistic religion. [see 1500-1200BCE]
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

c522BCE Zoroaster died during nomadic invasion
near Balkh.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

522-486 BC Darius the Great expanded the
Achaemenid (Persian) empire to its peak, when it took most of
Afghanistan, including Aria (Herat), Bactriana (Balk, and
present-day Mazar-i-Shariff), Margiana (Merv), Gandhara (Kabul,
Jalalabad and Peshawar), Sattagydia (Ghazni to the Indus river),
Arachosia (Kandahar, and Quetta), and Drangiana (Sistan). The
Persian empire was plagued by constant bitter and bloody tribal
revolts from Afghans living in Arachosia (Kandahar, and Quetta).
(www.afghan, 5/25/98)

37 Some 20,000 pieces of
jewelry and other objects were buried about this time with a
warrior-prince and 5 women in northern Afghanistan. In 1978-79 a
team led by Russian archeologist Viktor Sarianidi discovered their 6
sealed tombs at a site called Tillya Tepe (hill of gold). The
findings became known as the “Golden Hoard of Bactria."
(WSJ, 11/19/08, p.D7)

250-300 The smaller Buddha at Bamiyan (Bamian),
114 feet high, dated to about this time. It was a gigantic
magnification of a Gandhara image. It was destroyed by the Taliban
in 2001.
(WSJ, 3/5/00, p.A22)(SFC, 2/12/02, p.A16)

400 Invasion of the White Huns.
They destroyed the Buddhist culture, and left most of the country in
ruins.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

c400-600 The large Buddha at Bamiyan, 170 feet
tall, was constructed. It was an enlargement of an Indian Buddha of
the Gupta period.
(WSJ, 3/5/00, p.A22)

962-1030 Islamic era was established with the
Ghaznavid Dynasty.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

962-1140 Under the Ghaznavid Dynasty Afghanistan
became the center of Islamic power and civilization.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

971-1030 Machmud of Ghazni, ruler of Afghanistan.
He made annual invasions to northern India where he pillaged
temples, captured slaves, and transported his goods back by
elephant. His library had a large collection of erotic manuscripts
and he shared his palace with 400 poets.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)

980 Ibn Sina (Afghan scientist)
was born in Balkh.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1019 Machmud of Ghazni, a
kingdom in central Asia, invaded India and took so many captives
that the prices of slaves plummeted for several years. He invade
India annually for 25 years.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R4)

1030 Mahmud Ghazni died.
Conflicts between various Ghaznavid rulers arose and as a result the
empire started to crumple.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1140 Ghorid leaders from
central Afghanistan captured and burned Ghazni, then moved on to
conquer India.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1193 The Nalanda Buddhist
learning center in Bihar state was sacked by Turkic Muslim invaders
under Bakhtiyar Khalji, a milestone in the decline of Buddhism in
India. Khalji was a member of the Muslim Turkic Khilji, or the
Khalaj tribe as it is known in Iran and Afghanistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalanda)(www.spiritus-temporis.com/bakhtiyar-khalji/)

1207 Sep 30, Jalal ud-din Rumi
(Jelaluddin Rumi, d.1273), Persian poet and mystic was born in the
area of Balkh, Afghanistan. He later fled the Mongol invasions with
his family to Konya (Iconium), Anatolia. His work “Mathwani"
(Spiritual Couplets) filled 6 volumes and had a great impact on
Islamic civilization. He founded the Mevlevi order of Sufis, later
known as the “whirling dervishes." In 1998 a film was made about the
Sufi poet’s influence on the 20th century. In 1998 Kabir Helminski
edited “The Rumi Collection" with translation by Robert Bly and
others. His work also included the “Shams I-Tabriz" in which he
dismissed the terminology of Jew, Christian and Muslim as “false
distinctions." The poet Rumi was also known as Mowlana.
(SFC, 7/9/96, p.B5)(SFEC, 9/20/98, DB p.50)(SFEC,
10/25/98, BR p.6)(WSJ, 9/7/01, p.A14)(SSFC, 10/28/01, p.B7)(SSFC,
4/1/07, p.E3)

1451 An Afghan named Buhlul
invaded Delhi, and seized the throne. He founded the Lodi
dynasty.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1504 Babur, founder of the
Mughal dynasty in India, captured Kabul in Afghanistan and
maintained control to 1519.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.8)(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1520-1579 Bayazid Roshan, an Afghan intellectual,
lived. He revolted against the power of the Moghul government.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1526 Apr 21, Mongol Emperor
Babur annihilated Indian Army of Ibrahim Lodi. Babar, King of Kabul,
established in this year the Mughal dynasty at Delhi.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)(HN, 4/21/98)(SFEC, 5/21/00,
p.T8)

1613 Khushhal Khan Khattak
(d.1690), Afghan warrior-poet, was born. He initiated a national
uprising against the foreign Moghul government.
(www.afghan-network.net/biographies/khattak.html)

1622 Safavid Persia ruled
Kandahar.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1678-1707 Aurangzeb was the 1st Muslim ruler to
fire his cannon at the giant Buddhas at Bamiyan.
(WSJ, 11/16/01, p.W12)

1690 Khushal Khan Khattak
(b.1613), Pushtun poet, died. He wrote in Pashtu during the reign of
the Mongol emperors in the seventeenth century. He lived in the
foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains. He was a renowned fighter who
became known as the Afghan Warrior Poet.
(www.afghan-network.net/biographies/khattak.html)

1708 Mir Wais, a forerunner of
Afghan independence, made Kandahar independent of Safavid Persia
that had ruled it since 1622.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1715 Mir Wais died peacefully,
and lies in a mausoleum outside of Kandahar.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1721 Abdul Qadir Bedil
(b.1644), Afghanistan Sufi poet, died. In 2000 Afghan cab drivers in
Washington DC began meeting to discuss his work in a program called
“An Evening of Sufism."
(WSJ, 7/10/06, p.A1)(http://devoted.to/bedil)

1722 Mar 8, Afghan monarch Mir
Mahmud occupied Persia.
(MC, 3/8/02)

1722 Oct 12, Shah Sultan Husayn
surrendered the Persian capital of Isfahan to Afghan rebels after a
seven month siege. Mir Wais' son, Mir Mahmud of Afghanistan, had
invaded Persia and occupied Isfahan. At the same time, the Durranis
revolted, and terminated the Persian occupation of Herat.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(HN, 10/12/98)

1725 Apr 25, Mir Mahmud was
mysteriously killed after going mad. Afghans started to lose control
of Persia.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1747 Nadir Shah (head of
Persia) was assassinated, and the Afghans rose once again. Afghans,
under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani) retook Kandahar,
and established modern Afghanistan.
(NG, 10/1993, p. 66)(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1747 Ahmad Shah Abdali (d.1773)
consolidated and enlarged Afghanistan. He defeated the Moghuls in
the west of the Indus, and he took Herat away from the Persians.
Ahmad Shah Durrani's empire extended from Central Asia to Delhi,
from Kashmir to the Arabian sea. It became the greatest Muslim
empire in the second half of the 18th century.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1824 William Moorcroft, East
India Co. head of 5,000 acre horse farm at Pusa, India, arrived in
Peshawar, Afghanistan, while enroute to Bukhara, Uzbekistan, to
trade for horses.
(ON, 1/02, p.5)

1825 Aug 27, William Moorcroft,
East India Co. head of 5,000 acre horse farm at Pusa, India, died
near Balkh, Afghanistan, while returning to India following his trip
to Bukhara, Uzbekistan, to trade for horses. In 1985 Garry Alder
authored “Beyond Bukhara: The Life of William Moorcroft, Asian
Explorer and Veterinary Surgeon."
(ON, 1/02, p.6)

1826 Dost Mohammad Khan took
Kabul, and established control.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1834 May, Afghans lost Peshawar
to the Sikhs; later they crushed the Sikhs under the
leadership of Akbar Khan, who defeated the Sikhs near Jamrud, and
killed the great Sikh general Hari Singh. However, they failed to
retake Peshawar due to disunity and bad judgment on the part
of Dost Mohammad Khan.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1836 Dost Mohammad Khan was
proclaimed as Amir al-mu' Minin, commander of the faithful. He was
well on the road toward reunifying the whole of Afghanistan when the
British, in collaboration with an ex-king (Shah Shuja),
invaded Afghanistan.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1838 Oct 1, Lord Auckland,
British governor general in India, issued the Simla Manifesto,
setting forth the necessary reasons for British intervention in
Afghanistan. This led to the 1st Anglo-Afghan War.
(Econ, 10/7/06,
p.18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Afghan_War)

1838 Dec, India’s British
governor general dispatched to Kabul the Army of the Indus to
protect British interests from growing Russian influence.
(SSFC, 10/28/01,
p.C8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Afghan_War)

1839 A British army marched to
Kabul and replaced Dost Mohammad, the amir of Afghanistan, with a
more docile ruler. Britain had decided that Persian and Russian
intrigues posed a threat to their control of India.
(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A14)

1839-1842 First Anglo-Afghan War. After some
resistance, Amir Dost Mohammad Khan surrendered to the British and
was deported to India. In 1990 John H. Waller (1923-2004) authored
“Beyond the Khyber Pass: The Road to British Disaster in the First
Afghan War."
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(SSFC, 11/7/04,
p.A23)
1839-1842 Shah Shuja, a deposed king, was
installed as Afghan "puppet king" by the British. Shuja had been
living in exile in India for three decades. In 2013 William
Dalrymple authored “The Return of a King: The Battle for
Afghanistan, 1839-42."
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(Econ, 1/26/12,
p.73)

1840 May 14, English Lt.
Richmond Shakespear left Herat on a mission to Khiva (later
Uzbekistan) to persuade the ruling Khan to free all his Russian
slaves.
(ON, 4/00, p.7)

1840 Aug 15, English Lt.
Richmond Shakespear began a 500-mile trek with 416 freed Russian
slaves from Khiva to the Russian Fort Alexandrovsk on the Caspian
Sea.
(ON, 4/00, p.8)

1840 Nov 5, Afghanistan
surrendered to the British.
(HN, 11/5/98)

1841 Nov 2, Following
the British occupation of Kabul during the 1st Afghan War
(1839-1842), Afghans revolted and murdered British envoy, Lt. Col.
Sir Alexander Burnes (1805-1841) and some 23 others. By Jan 1842 the
British army decided to withdraw with its 4,500 Anglo-Indian troops
and 10,000 camp followers. The column was wiped out by Ghilzai
tribesmen with their long-barreled rifles called jezails.
(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A14)(HN,
11/2/98)(www.indhistory.com/afghan-war-1.html)

1842 Jan 2-1842 Jan12, Akbar
Khan, Afghan hero, was victorious against the British. Out of 4,500
(16,500) soldiers and 12,000 dependents only one survivor, of a
mixed British-Indian garrison, reached the fort in Jalalabad, on a
stumbling pony. The British retreated from Kabul to Jalalabad. The
incident is the backdrop for George MacDonald Fraser’s novel
“Flashman." [see Jan 13]
(WSJ, 4/10/95,
A-16)(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(WSJ, 9/20/01, p.A12)

1842 Jan 13, Dr. William
Brydon, badly wounded, reached Jalalabad as the only survivor of a
16,000 person retreat from Kabul. In the 1st British-Afghan War
British troops retreating from Kabul were ambushed and nearly all
slaughtered at the Khyber Pass, even though the Afghans had promised
them safe passage during their withdrawal from the Afghan capital.
[see Jan 2-12]
(SSFC, 10/28/01, p.C8)(MC, 1/13/02)

1842 Apr, Shah Shuja was killed
by Afghans. Afghans passionately continued their struggle
against the British.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1842 The British forced their
way through the Khyber Pass. They recaptured Kabul and burned down
the Great Bazaar in retribution before marching back to India.
(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A14)

1843 After the annihilation of
British troops, Afghanistan once again became independent, and the
exiled Amir, Dost Mohammad Khan came back and occupied the royal
throne.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1849 Britain annexed the
Punjab, the vast territories of what later became known as eastern
Pakistan and northern western India. This put them on the edge of
the tribal territories, mostly claimed by Afghanistan, and forced
them to launch military campaigns almost every year for the next
half century to keep the tribes at bay.
(Econ, 1/2/10, p.18)

1873 Russia established a
fixed boundary between Afghanistan and it's new territories. Russia
promised to respect Afghanistan's territorial integrity.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1878 The new amir, Dost
Mohammad’s son, signed a treaty of friendship with Russia. British
Gen’l. Frederick “Little Bobs" Roberts was sent with an army to
force Afghanistan into a treaty ceding foreign policy to the
British. The treaty was concluded but the British envoy was
murdered.
(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A14)

1878 Start of second
Anglo-Afghan War. The British invaded and the Afghans quickly
put up a strong resistance.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1879 Sher Ali died in
Mazar-i-Shariff, and Amir Muhammad Yaqub Khan took over until
October 1879. Amir Muhammad Yaqub Khan gave up the following Afghan
territories to the British: Kurram, Khyber, Michni, Pishin, and
Sibi. Afghans lost these territories permanently.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1879 Gen’l. Roberts returned to
Kabul to hang some Afghans in punishment for the murder of a British
envoy. Roberts was besieged and another British force in southern
Afghanistan was almost annihilated. Roberts retreated in a march
from Kabul to Kandahar.
(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A14)

1880 Jul, In the Battle of
Maiwand an Afghan woman named Malalai carried the Afghan flag
forward after the soldiers carrying the flag were killed by the
British. She becomes a heroine for her show of courage and valor.
The 1892 Kipling poem “Barracks Room Ballads" recalled the Battle of
Maiwand.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(SSFC, 10/28/01,
p.C8)

1880 In the 2nd Anglo-Afghan
War an Anglo-Indian force of 2,500 lost 1,000 dead and fled from a
rebel army of some 25,000.
(SSFC, 10/28/01, p.C8)

1880 The British, shortly after
the accession of the new Amir, withdrew from Afghanistan, although
they retained the right to handle Afghanistan's foreign relations.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1880 Abdur Rahman established
fixed borders and he lost a lot of Afghan land.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1880 Nuristan converted to
Islam.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1880-1901 Abdur Rahman, backed by the British,
took the throne of Afghanistan as Emir and ruled to 1901. During his
reign, Afghanistan was sandwiched between the British colonial
rulers of India, which then encompassed modern-day Pakistan, and the
Russian empire that extended into Caucasus areas of Central Asia. As
the British and the Russians built tracks that went right up to his
border, Rahman Khan responded with a decree that no railroad would
be allowed to enter Afghan territory, reasoning that without them,
it would be difficult for invading troops to cross the mountainous
frontier.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(Econ, 11/7/09,
p.12)(AP, 3/10/12)

1885 The Panjdeh Incident.
Russian forces seize the Panjdeh Oasis, a piece of Afghan territory
north of the Oxus River. Afghans tried to retake it, but were
finally forced to allow the Russians to keep Panjdeh, and the
Russians promised to honor Afghan territorial integrity in the
future.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1888 In Afghanistan a royal
decree granted Pashtun Sunnis rights to graze their herds in the
central highlands, land occupied by the Hazara people.
(SFC, 10/21/08, p.A12)

1893 The Durand line, drawn by
British diplomat Sir Mortimer Durand, fixed the borders of
Afghanistan with British India, splitting Pushtun tribal areas and
leaving half of these Afghans in what is now Pakistan. The agreement
was first signed by Sir Mortimer Durand and Abdur Rahman Khan, the
ruler of Afghanistan.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(Econ, 7/22/06,
p.44)(Econ, 8/18/07, p.34)(Econ, 6/4/11, p.18)

1894 Mullah Powindah, an
Afghan-backed Mehsud, led an attack on a British team demarcating
the frontier between India and Afghanistan. Powindah took the title
Badshah-Taliban (King of the Taliban) and became a 2-decade-long
headache for the British.
(Econ, 1/2/10, p.19)

1901 Abdur Rahman died and his
son Habibullah succeeded him.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1907 Russia and Great Britain
signed the convention of St. Petersburg, in which Afghanistan was
declared outside Russia's sphere of influence.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1911 Oct, Mahmud Tarzi
(1865-1933), Afghan intellectual, began publishing the
Seraj-al-Akhbar newspaper. The bi-weekly continued to January 1919.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmud_Tarzi)

1914 Mohammad Zahir Shah, later
king, was born. He was crowned at age 19, ousted in 1963 and deposed
in 1973.
(SFC, 4/19/02, p.A11)

1918 Mahmud Tarzi (Afghan
Intellectual) introduced modern Journalism into Afghanistan with the
creation of several newspapers.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1919 Aug 19, Afghanistan
established independence from the UK with the signing of the Treaty
of Rawalpindi.
(AFP, 8/19/10)

1919 The first museum in
Afghanistan was instituted at Baghe Bala.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)
1919 Afghanistan was recognized
as a sovereign nation.
(WSJ, 10/1/01, p.A1)
1919 The Emir of Afghanistan
declared jihad against Britain’s forces in the North-West Frontier
Province. In response Britain shipped a single Handley Page biplane
bomber to Karachi. It flew over Kabul and dropped four 20-pound
bombs. The emir sued for peace shortly thereafter.
(Econ, 8/26/06, p.20)
1919 In Afghanistan Habibullah
was assassinated, and succeeded by his son Amanullah (The reform
King).
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1919-1921 The 3rd Anglo-Afghan war began. The
British were defeated, and Afghanistan gained full control of her
foreign affairs.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(WSJ, 8/25/98,
p.A14)

1921 May 27, Afghanistan
achieved sovereignty after 84 years of British control.
(MC, 5/27/02)

1921 Treaty of Ranalpindi.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1921 Afghanistan signed a
Treaty of Friendship with the Soviet Union.
(WSJ, 9/20/01, p.A12)

1921 Amanullah Khan initiates a
series of ambitious efforts at social and political modernization.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1923 Amanullah Khan changed his
title from Amir to Padshah (King).
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1929 Jan 17, In Afghanistan
Habibullah Kalakani (1891-1929), popularly known as "Bache Saqaw,"
became emir after deposing Amanullah Khan, the grandson of Rahman
Khan, with the help of various Afghan tribes who opposed
modernization. Khan had built 5-mile (8-km) track with steam
locomotives running between Kabul and his European-style palace of
Darulaman. But his plans for a wider network met with opposition.
The line fell into disrepair after he was overthrown.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habibull%C4%81h_Kalak%C4%81ni)(AP,
3/10/12)

1929 Oct 15, Nadir Khan
(1983-1933) took the throne of Afghanistan after a 3-way power
struggle. His tribal Wazir army looted government buildings and
houses of wealthy citizens because the treasury was empty.
Habibullah Kalakani, along with his supporters, and a few supporters
of Amanullah Khan were killed by Nadir Khan and Khan established
full control.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Nadir_Shah)(WSJ, 10/11/01,
p.A6)

1929 Nov 1, Afghan emir
Habibullah Kalakani (b.1891), popularly known as "Bache Saqaw," was
executed by firing squad along with his brother and 10 other rebel
leaders.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habibull%C4%81h_Kalak%C4%81ni)

1929 Mahmud Tarzi (1865-1933),
one of Afghanistan's greatest intellectuals, sought asylum in Turkey
after the fall of Amanullah Khan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmud_Tarzi)
1929 In Afghanistan Queen
Soraya (1899-1968), wife of King Amanullah Khan, was forced into
exile following the abdication of King Amanullah. Soraya Tarzi had a
modern approach to women’s issues and refused to wear a veil.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soraya_Tarzi)(SFC,
5/28/15, p.A3)

1931 Jun 24, The Soviet Union
and Afghanistan signed a treaty of neutrality.
(HN, 6/24/98)

1933 Nadir Khan was
assassinated by a college student, and his son, Zahir, inherited the
throne.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1933 King Zahir Shah
(1914-2007) began his rule as king of Afghanistan. He kept the
country in feudal backwardness until he was overthrown in 1973. His
uncles served as prime ministers and advisors until 1953.
(SFC, 9/23/96, A9)(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1933 Mahmud Tarzi, Afghan
intellectual, died in Turkey at the age of 68. He is known as the
father of Afghan journalism.
(www.afghan-web.com/bios/yest/tarzi.html)

1934 The United States of
America formally recognized Afghanistan.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1947 Britain withdrew from
India. Pakistan was carved out of Indian and Afghan lands.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)
1947 A force of Wazirs and
Mehsuds was dispatched to seize Kashmir for the newly formed Islamic
republic of Pakistan, sparking the first Indo-Pakistan war.
(Econ, 1/2/10, p.17)

1949 Afghanistan's Parliament
denounced the Durand Treaty and refused to recognize the Durand line
as a legal boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1949 Pashtuns in Pashtunistan
(Occupied Afghan Land) proclaim an independent Pashtunistan, but
their proclamation went unacknowledged by the world community.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1956 Khrushchev and Bulgaria
agree to help Afghanistan. Close ties between Afghanistan and USSR.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1959 May 10, Soviet forces
arrived in Afghanistan.
(MC, 5/10/02)

1959 In Afghanistan the Purdah
was made optional under King Zahir Shah. Women began to enroll in
the university, which had become co-educational, and they began to
enter the workforce, as well as the government.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(Econ, 7/28/07,
p.88)

1961 Pakistan and Afghanistan
come close to war over Pashtunistan.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1963 James Michener (d.1997 at
90) wrote his novel "Caravans," the fruit of wide-ranging trips to
Afghanistan in the mid-1950s.
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)(WSJ, 7/5/08, p.W8)

1964 Afghanistan’s first
constitution banned all royals, except the king, from taking part in
politics. This was specifically aimed at King Zahir Shah’s cousin
Daoud, who staged a coup in 1973.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.88)

1964 Soviet Union engineers
completed the 2.6 miles Salang tunnel connecting Kabul, Afghanistan,
to Central Asia. At 11,034 feet it was the world’s highest tunnel
until 1973, when the US built the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel in the
Rocky Mountains.
(SFC, 12/13/01, p.A10)(SFC, 2/7/02, p.A20)(Econ,
8/3/13, p.34)(http://tinyurl.com/ngughx2)

1965 Jan, The Afghan Communist
Party, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, was secretly
formed. Babrak Karmal was one of the founders.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(WSJ, 9/20/01,
p.A12)

1965 Sep, The first nationwide
elections under the new constitution. Karmal was elected to the
Parliament, later instigates riots. Zahir and Yussof formed a second
government.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1973 Jul 17, Zahir Shah
(1914-2007) was on vacation in Europe, when his government was
overthrown in a military coup headed by his relative Daoud Khan and
PDPA (Afghan Communist Party). Zahir Shah fled to Italy where he
lived until his return in 2002. Daoud Khan abolished the monarchy
and declared himself President of the Republic of Afghanistan.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(SFC, 9/22/01,
p.A7)(AP, 7/23/07)

1973 Timothy Leary (d.1996) was
captured in Afghanistan and returned to jail in California. He was
pardoned by Gov. Brown in 1976.
(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A22)

1974 UNESCO named Herat as one
of the first cities to be designated as a part of the worlds
cultural heritage.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1975-1977 In Afghanistan Daoud Khan during this
period presented a new constitution. Women's rights were confirmed.
Daoud starts to oust suspected opponents from his government.
(www.languages.umd.edu/persian/afghanhistory.php)

1978 Apr 27, The Afghanistan
revolution began. There was a leftist coup. Afghanistan armed forces
seized power. Pres. Mohammed Daud Khan was killed and Nur Mohammad
Tarakai was installed as president. Babrak Karmal became his deputy
Prime Minister. It was the first country in South Asia to fall while
under communist rule. Assadulah Sarawary became the secret police
chief under the Tarakai regime. In 2006 he faced war crime charges.
In 2008 Afghan authorities announced they had found mass graves
containing the remains of ex-president Mohammad Daud Khan and 17
family members and associates. In 2009 Daud Khan was reburied along
with family members on a hillside overlooking the mountains that
surround Kabul.
(HN, 4/27/98)(WSJ, 9/20/01, p.A12)(Econ, 1/21/06,
p.42)(AP, 8/17/08)(AP, 12/4/08)(AP, 3/17/09)

1978 Aug 17, Afghanistan
announced that defense minister Gen. Abdul Qadir, one of the Apr 27
coup leaders, has been arrested after the discovery of an alleged
plot to overthrow the government. Qadir also belonged to the Parcham
faction.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_in_Afghanistan)

1978 Oct 19, The Afghan flag
was changed. The national flag, also used as state and war flag, was
a 1:2 red flag with a yellow Soviet-like emblem in the canton. Red
symbolized the fight against imperialism, feudality and all other
kinds of oppression.
(www.crwflags.com/FOTW/flags/af1978o.html)

1978 Dec 5, Afghan Pres. Nur
Mohammad Tarakai, head of People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
(PDPA), signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union.
(WUD, 1994,
p.1691)(www.eedi.org.ua/eem/7eng.html)

1978 Norman Hammond co-authored
“The Archeology of Afghanistan."
(WSJ, 3/5/00, p.A22)
1978 In Afghanistan Kabul Mayor
Ghulam Sakhi Noorzad began enacting a master plan for the city
developed by top European engineers. He went into exile with the
Soviet invasion, returned in 2001 and resumed work on the master
plan.
(WSJ, 3/3/05, p.A1)
1978 In Afghanistan fighting
began between the government and a shifting array of rebel groups.
Hafizullah Amin led socialist activists to overtake Kabul. They
received aid from Moscow but not total backing. Mass arrests,
tortures, and arrests took place.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)(SFC, 9/28/96,
p.A8)(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1979 Feb 14, Adolph Dubs, the
U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim
extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and
police.
(SFC, 9/28/96, p.A8)(AP,
2/14/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Dubs)

1979 Mar, Ismail Khan, a
Persian speaking Sunni Tajik and Major in Afghan army, led a
mutiny/insurrection against the Taraki regime's Sawr (or April)
Revolution (Taraki's inspired Afghan societal liberalization and
land reform). Khan's revolt resulted in the slaughter of Soviet
Afghan advisors and their families. This insurrection was met by a
brutal Afghan and Soviet response that killed an estimated 24,000
Heratis in a single week and destroyed much of the famous Central
Asian crossroad city.
(www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/2004/jul/johnsonJul04.asp)

1979 Apr 1, Assadullah Sarwari
(b.1941), former air force commander under Pres. Khan, became head
of Afghan secret police (AGSA). He was later arrested for
involvement in the arbitrary arrest, torture and mass killing of
hundreds of opponents and spent 13 years in jail before his trial
began on Dec 26, 2005.
(www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profile/db/facts/assadullah_sarwari_452.html)

1979 Jun 13, Ahmed Zahir
(b.1946), Afghanistan pop star, was killed in a car crash. His death
is believed to have been arranged by Hafizullah Amin.
(Econ, 12/6/03,
p.38)(www.ahmadzahir.com/biography.php)

1979 Sep 16, Hafizullah Amin
took the presidency of Afghanistan following the killing of Nur
Muhammad Taraki. Amin was later executed and replaced with Babrak
Karmal.
(www.onwar.com/aced/nation/all/afghan/fafghan1979a.htm)

1979 Dec 25, Large numbers of
Soviet airborne forces joined stationed ground troops and began to
land in Kabul, Afghanistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan)

1979 Dec 27, Soviet forces
seized control of Afghanistan after a 2nd leftist coup. The Soviet
backed coup ousted leftists and put a more pro-Moscow regime in
power in Kabul. Babrak Karmal (1929-1996) became the new puppet
leader and Soviet troops bolstered his rule against Muslim
resistance fighters. Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown, was
executed and replaced by Babrak Karmal. Some 15,000 Soviet soldiers
reportedly died along with 1 million Afghans.
(SFC, 9/23/96, A9)(SFC, 9/28/96, p.A8)(WSJ,
12/6/96, p.A1)(WA, 1997, p.737)(AP,
12/27/97)(http://web.mit.edu/cascon/cases/case_afg.html)

1979 Afghanistan conducted a
census.
(Econ, 6/16/12, p.46)
1979 Osama bin Laden left Saudi
Arabia to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan, where he laid
the groundwork for his al Qaeda network.
(NW, 11/19/01, p.35)

1979-1989 The Afghan resistance fought off Soviet
troops. It was backed by intelligence services of the US and Saudi
Arabia and nearly $6 billion worth of weapons.
(SFC, 8/24/98, p.A8)

1979-1992 Habibullah Jalalzoy (b.1946) served as
the head of the interrogations unit within the Afghan military
intelligence under the communist regime. In 2005 Dutch prosecutors
demanded a sentence of 9 years in prison for war crimes and torture.
(http://tinyurl.com/l4w8jqs)(AP, 9/26/05)
1979-1992 This period in Afghanistan was later
covered in Nelofer Pazira’s 2005 memoir “A Bed of Red Flowers: In
Search of My Afghanistan."
(SSFC, 9/11/05, p.F1)

1980 Jan 2, President Carter
asked the Senate to delay the arms treaty ratification in response
to Soviet action in Afghanistan.
(HN, 1/2/99)

1980 Jan 13, The United States
offered Pakistan a two-year aid plan to counter the Soviet threat in
Afghanistan.
(HN, 1/13/99)

1980 Jan 24, In an action
obviously designed as another in a series of very strong reactions
to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, US officials announce that
America is ready to sell military equipment (excluding weapons) to
communist China. The surprise statement was part of the US effort to
build a closer relationship with the People's Republic of China for
use as leverage against possible Soviet aggression.
(http://tinyurl.com/8sx9u)

1980 Feb 22, Afghanistan
declared martial law following a major uprising in Kabul.
(http://tinyurl.com/34hky9)

1980 Jun 22, The Soviet Union
announced a partial withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan.
(HN, 6/22/98)

1980 In Afghanistan Dr.
Najibullah (1947-1996) was brought back from USSR to run the secret
police. He later served as president (1986-1992).
(www.afghan,
5/25/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Najibullah)

1980 The Nazoo Anna School was
founded in Peshawar, Pakistan, for girls from Afghan refugee camps
by Nazaneen Jabarkhel Majeed. It was named after a female Afghan
freedom fighter.
(SFC, 7/16/99, p.A10)

1980-1989 During the 1980s the US purchased
millions of Type 56 rifles from China to arm the Afghan Mujahedeen
in their war against the Soviet army. The rifles were copycats of
the AK-47s used by Russian soldiers. The US gave an average of $500
million in military aid annually to the Mujahedeen. The US also
purchased Chinese and Polish AK-47s to supply the Contra guerillas
in Nicaragua.
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.A9)(SFC, 9/23/96, A9)

1982 Nov 3, In Afghanistan a
Soviet tank engine exploded in the Salang Tunnel and 178 Soviet
soldiers were killed along with as many as 800 Afghans.
(SFC, 12/13/01,
p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salang_tunnel_fire)

1982 The Friendship Bridge over
the Amu Darya River, connecting Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, was
built by the Soviets during the Soviet occupation of that country.
The bridge was closed in May 1997 when the Taliban forces took
control of the city of Mazari Sharif, forcing Uzbek rebels to
retreat back to Uzbekistan. It reopened on December 9, 2001.
(http://tinyurl.com/2qbrbd)(WSJ, 11/21/01, p.A11)

1982-1992 An estimated 35,000 Muslim fighters from
43 countries arrived to fight in the Afghan resistance and to train
for fighting in Kashmir.
(WSJ, 10/12/01, p.A6)

1983 May 23, Radio Moscow
announcer Vladimir Danchev praised Afghanistan Muslims standing up
to Russia. He was removed from the air.
(MC, 5/23/02)

1988 Feb 15, The Soviet Union
was defeated by Afghanistan, and a total withdrawal by the Soviets
occurred. In 2003 George Crile authored "Charlie Wilson's War: The
Extraordinary Story of the largest Covert Operation in History."
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(SSFC, 5/25/03,
p.M1)

1988 Apr 7, Soviet leader
Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Afghan leader Najibullah met in the Soviet
Central Asian city of Tashkent. They later issued a joint statement
announcing an end to the civil war in Afghanistan and withdrawal
Soviet troops.
(AP, 4/7/97)

1988 Apr 14, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, the United States and the Soviet Union signed agreements
providing for the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan and
creation of a nonaligned Afghan state. Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev announced the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The Soviets
pulled out of Afghanistan after nine years of fighting. Afghan
rebels rejected the pact and continued fighting.
(SFC, 9/28/96, p.A8)(WA, 1997, p.737)(TMC, 1994,
p.1988)(AP, 4/14/98)

1988 May 15, The Soviet Union
began the process of withdrawing its 115,000 troops from
Afghanistan, more than eight years after Soviet forces had entered
the country.
(AP, 5/15/98)(HN, 5/15/98)

1988 May 18, A cheering crowd
in the Soviet town of Termez greeted the first Soviet soldiers as
they withdrew from Afghanistan. Experts agree that at least
40,000-50,000 Soviets lost their lives in action, besides the
wounded, suicides, and murders. Mujahideen continued to fight
against Najibullah's regime. Some 130,000 Red Army troops fought in
Afghanistan and 15,000 were lost.
(AP, 5/18/98)(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(SFC,
10/18/01, p.A3)

1988 Staff members of
Afghanistan’s National Museum moved most of its artifacts into
storage as the Soviet occupation ended. An inventory in 2004 showed
that most of the stored items survived the civil war and the Taliban
years.
(SFC, 11/18/04, p.A16)

1989 Feb 5, The Soviet Union
announced that all but a small rear-guard contingent of its troops
had left Afghanistan.
(AP, 2/5/99)

1989 Feb 15, The Soviet Union
announced that the last of its troops had left Afghanistan, after
more than nine years of military intervention.
(SFC, 9/28/96, p.A8)(AP, 2/15/98)

1989 May, Afghan guerrillas
elect Sibhhatullah Mojadidi as head of their government-in-exile.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1989 Javed Hussain Shah
completed 6 months of training in Afghanistan and led a Kashmiri
insurgent group later dubbed the Jihad Force. He fought along with
al-Qaida members and later became a Kashmiri legislator.
(SSFC, 6/23/02, p.A13)

1990 Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of
the Pure) was formed in Afghanistan by Hafiz Mohammed Saeed. It made
its name challenging India’s claims over Kashmir.
(WSJ, 12/8/08, p.A6)

1991 Feb 1, Afghanistan and
Pakistan were hit by an earthquake and 1,200 died.
(http://tinyurl.com/dsnjk)

1991 Sudanese intelligence
approached Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and invited him to move to
Khartoum, which he did.
(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.A20)

1992 Apr 15, On April 15-16 the
Mujahedeen overthrew the Communist government led by Pres.
Najibullah in Kabul. The Mujahideen took Kabul and liberated
Afghanistan, Najibullah was protected by the UN. The Mujahideen
formed an Islamic State, Islamic Jihad Council, and scheduled
elections.
(SFC, 9/23/96, A9)(SFC, 9/27/96,
p.A12)(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1992 Apr 25, Islamic forces in
Afghanistan took control of most of the capital of Kabul following
the collapse of the Communist government.
(AP, 4/25/97)

1993 Feb 11, In Afghanistan
some 800 Hazzara civilians were massacred in the Afshar district of
West Kabul.
(Econ, 2/17/07, p.45)(http://tinyurl.com/34h7bu)

1993 May, The Kabul Museum was
partially destroyed by a shell and was left unprotected in the
suburb of Darulaman. It was looted for many months.
(WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A14)

1993 Jun 17, In Afghanistan
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (b.1947) began serving his first term as Prime
Minister and continued to 1994. His 2nd term covered 1996-1997.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulbuddin_Hekmatyar)(SFC, 9/23/96,
A12)

1994 Jan, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
left as PM of Afghanistan and led forces of the Islamic Party
(Hezb-i-Islami) against Pres. Burhanuddin Rabbani. Dostum and
Hekmatyar continued to clash against Rabbani's government, and as a
result Kabul was reduced to rubble.
(SFC, 9/23/96, A12)(www.afghan, 5/25/98)

1994 Feb 20, Three armed
Afghans seized a school bus in Islamabad with some 70 passengers
including Pakistani children.
(http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9402c&L=pakistan&T=0&F=&S=&P=452)

1994 Apr, In Afghanistan about
this time Mohammed Omar (b.1959), former guerrilla commander against
Soviet forces, gathered a group of former guerrillas in the village
of Singesar and hung the mujahedeen responsible for the rape of 2
local girls. He soon led the Taliban (The Students) as
Amir-ul-Momineen (Commander of the Faithful). The Taliban militia
advanced rapidly against the Islamic government.
(SFC, 1/1/97,
p.C2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban)

1994 Sep, The Taliban was
formed in southern Afghanistan. Its fighters were initially trained
by the Frontier Constabulary, a paramilitary force of Pakistan’s
Interior Ministry (ISI). Taliban forces captured the southern town
of Kandahar. 800 truckloads of arms and ammunition were gained from
a Soviet cache. They continued to gain land over the next 2 years.
The Taliban took Kabul in 1996.
(SFC, 9/28/96, p.A8)(SFC, 1/1/97, p.C3)(SSFC,
7/30/06, p.A10) (WSJ, 9/14/01, p.A6)(Econ, 2/9/13,
p.44)

1994 Nov 20, The most heavily
mined country in the world is Afghanistan, with between 10 and 15
million deadly mines.
(UNICEFF Mailer, 11/94)

1994 King Shah suggested that a
traditional council of tribal leaders, “loya jirga," be convened to
appoint a head of state and set up a transitional government. He was
unable to gain sufficient support for the idea.
(SFC, 9/22/01, p.A7)

1995 The Afghan national
cricket team was founded after the withdrawal of the Soviet army.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.40)

1995 Massive gains were made by
the Taliban. Increased Pakistani and Iranian interference followed.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1995 The Taliban regained Herat
and Tajik commander Ismail Khan fled for exile in Iran. Khan
returned in 1997 and was captured by the Taliban and imprisoned for
nearly 3 years.
(SFC, 11/13/01, p.A2)

1995 Rebel jets bombed Kabul.
Blame was placed on the Islamic Tailbone Militia, which was fighting
to oust President Rabbani.
(WSJ, 11/27/95, p.A-1)

1995 In Bamiyan 45 Tajik
fighters were tortured to death in an attempt to conquer the
province.
(SFC, 2/12/02, p.A1)

1995 More than 1,000 people
died in fighting during this year.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)

1996 Feb, Ammunition exploded
at the presidential palace in Kabul and killed as many as 60 people.
The blast was blamed on an accidental fire.
(WSJ, 2/16/96, p.A-1)

1996 Apr 4, Mohammed Omar (aka
Mullah Muhammad Omar) unsealed a shrine in Kandahar that held a
cloak believed to have belonged to the prophet Mohammed. He placed
the cloak over his shoulders and declared himself the commander of
the faithful and leader of all Islam.
(SFC, 12/7/01, p.A16)(Econ, 8/8/15, p.78)

1996 May 24, Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, the leader of the rebel faction that fought to topple the
government, signed an accord with Pres. Burhanuddin Rabbani and
ended 4 years of hostilities. The civil war may continue because the
Taliban rebels, who control more than half of the country, were not
included in the alliance.
(SFC, 5/30/96, p.A10)

1996 May 29, Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar became the new PM of Afghanistan.
(SFC, 5/30/96, p.A10)

1996 May, Osama bin Laden was
driven out of Sudan under pressure from the Clinton administration.
His horse, “Swift Like the Wind," was left behind. Abdul Rasul
Sayyaf, a Saudi Arabian-backed jihadist leader, invited bin Laden
back to Afghanistan and bin Laden returned.
(SFC, 8/21/98, p.A2)(SFC, 12/17/04, p.W4)(Econ,
9/17/05, p.40)

1996 Jun 16, A bomb exploded in
a Jalalabad market and killed 4 people and wounded more than 20.
(SFC, 6/15/96, p.A10)

1996 Jun 26, In Afghanistan
guerrilla leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, head of Hezbi-Islami, having
been eliminated as a military power, signed a peace pact with
Rabbani, and returned to Kabul to rule as prime minister. Hekmatyar
was a member of the dominant Pashtun group, unlike Rabanni and
military commander Ahmad Shah Massoud who belong to the Tajik ethnic
group. The Taliban militia launched an assault that killed 54 and
wounded 118 people. Pakistan’s spy service (ISI) had helped form the
Taliban movement.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(WSJ, 6/27/96,
p.A1)(SFC, 9/23/96, A12) (Econ, 2/9/13, p.44)

1996 Jul 14, Hekmatyar closed
movie theaters and banned music on tv and radio, claiming that they
were repugnant to Islam.
(SFC, 7/15/96, p.A11)

1996 Sep 22, The Taliban
guerrillas swept through 3 southeastern provinces over the last 2
weeks and controlled about 2/3 of the country.
(SFC, 9/23/96, A9)

1996 Sep 26, Former Pres.
Najibullah (1986-1990) and his brother, former security chief
Shahpur Ahmedzi, were executed and hung when the Taliban fighters
moved into Kabul. They had been in hiding since being overthrown 4
years ago. Officials hoped that the former king, Zahir Shah, would
return to lead the country.
(SFC, 9/27/96, p.A12)

1996 Sep 27, The Taliban
militia, a band of former seminary students, forced President
Burhanuddin Rabbani and his government out of Kabul.
(AP, 9/27/97)(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1996 Oct 2, Mullah Turabi
headed the supreme council of the Taliban which took over Kabul.
(SFC, 10/2/96, p.A7)

1996 Oct 10, Three military
commanders formed a pact against the Taliban. Gen’l. Rashid Dostum,
Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Karim Khalily held 10 northern
provinces against 19 held by the Taliban.
(SFC, 10/11/96, p.A16)

1996 An alliance between
Government, Hezbi Wahdat, and Dostum was formed.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1996 Oppression of women by the
Taliban. Women must be fully veiled, no longer allowed to work, go
out alone or even wear white socks. Men were forced to grow
beards. Buzkashi, the Afghan national sport was outlawed.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1996 The Taliban closed public
bathhouses for women in Kabul.
(SFC, 8/14/00, p.A13)

1996 Tensions rose as Afghan
government accused Pakistan of aiding the Taliban.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)

1996 The United Arab Emirates,
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan recognized the Taliban after they seized
the Afghan capital Kabul. All three countries cut ties with the
Taliban after it sheltered al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden following
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US.
(AP, 2/24/06)

1997 Mar 27, An avalanche
buried at least 100 people near the Salang tunnel north of Kabul.
(WSJ, 3/28/97, p.A1)

1997 Mar, Reports said that
Osama bin Laden, an exiled Saudi billionaire, bankrolled the Jun 25,
1996, bombing of the US base in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 US
servicemen. He is an advocate of strict Islamic rule and has said
that he would campaign to overthrow the Saudi royal family. He lived
in the Sudan for 2 years and recently moved to Afghanistan and was
accepted by the Taliban.
(SFC, 3/7/97, p.A17)(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A18)(SFEC,
8/23/98, p.A15)

1997 May 21, Faction leader
Gen. Abdurrashid Dostum, an ethnic-Uzbek, was up against mutineers
in 6 of his 8 northern provinces.
(SFC, 5/22/97, p.C2)(SFC, 10/10/01, p.A3)

1997 May 24, Forces of the
Taliban swept into Mazar-E-Sharif, the last opposition stronghold.
The Taliban was invited in by Malik Pahlawan, an adversary of Rashid
Dostum.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.A10)(SFC, 11/18/97, p.B2)

1997 May 28, The Taliban was
forced out of Mazar-e-Sharif by Uzbek forces. Many Taliban fighters
were killed as they were forced out of Mazar-e-Sharif. Rashid Dostum
later was reported to have witnessed the graves of some 700 Taliban
fighters and another 1,300 dead at other sites. Later reports put
the Taliban dead at 2-3,000. Uzbek Gen. Malik Pahlawan killed some
1,250 Taliban by leaving them in closed container trucks in the
desert sun.
(SFC, 5/29/97, p.A10)(SFC, 11/18/97, p.B2)(SFC,
11/6/98, p.A16)(NW, 8/26/02, p.26)

1997 Jul 27, It was reported
that the Taliban had recently reopened the Pul-i-Charki fortress, a
notorious prison, just outside Kabul, and that several thousand men
were being held.
(SFEC, 7/27/97, p.D3)

1997 Aug 21, Leaders of the
alliance fighting the Taliban army were killed in an air crash
aboard an Antonov 32 about 90 miles NW of Kabul.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A15)

1997 Sep 15, It was reported
that the Taliban has prohibited the cultivation of opium poppies.
Some 200,000 families produced a record 2,800 tons of opium in 1997,
a 25% increase over 1996.
(SFC, 9/15/97, p.A14)

1997 Oct 24, A UN director said
that the Taliban has agreed to enforce a ban on poppy production.
(SFC, 10/24/97, p.A10)

1997 Nov 8, It was reported
that thieves had stolen over 2,250 tons of the World Food Program’s
emergency wheat supply in Hairatan since an alliance opposed to the
ruling Taliban gained control of the town.
(SFC, 11/8/97, p.A12)

1997 Dec 24, The Taliban
launched an offensive at Kotel Toopkhana in Badakhshan province and
by the next day claimed to have driven out the soldiers of Ahmed
Shah Massoud.
(SFC, 12/26/97, p.B4)

1998 Jan 7, It was reported
that some 600 civilians were dragged from their homes and shot by
the Taliban army in the northwest, prompting thousands to flee the
area. Most of the victims were said to be Uzbeks.
(SFC, 1/8/98, p.B3)

1998 Jan 13, An Afghan
Russian-made cargo plane crashed in southwestern Pakistan with as
many as 90 Taliban militia and all were killed.
(SFC, 1/14/98, p.C2)

1998 Feb 4, A 5.9 earthquake
hit the province of Takhar in the northeast at the junction of the
Hindu Kush and Pamir mountain ranges where hills collapsed into each
other making a huge crater. The number dead was later reported to be
2,300 with 8,000 left homeless.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A1)(AP,
2/4/99)(SFC, 3/27/02, p.A14)

1998 Feb 8, New tremors killed
up to 250 more people as relief workers struggled to reach the
disaster scene.
(SFC, 2/9/98, p.B2)

1998 Feb 16, Following the Feb
4 earthquake 27 people died of the cold. Some 30,000 earthquake
survivors were sent 24 truckloads of aid by the Taliban.
(WSJ, 2/18/98, p.A1)

1998 Feb 23, In Afghanistan
Osama bin Laden declared a holy war on the US. Bin Laden announced
the formation of the World Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and
Crusaders. It called on Muslims worldwide to attack Americans. The
Al Quds Al-Arabi newspaper published a statement that announced an
alliance between Dr. Zawahri, head of the Egyptian Jihad, and Osama
bin Laden. "We—with God’s help—call on every Muslim…to comply with
God’s order to kill Americans."
(WSJ, 4/2/02, p.A18)(WSJ, 7/2/02, p.A8)(SFC,
2/22/00, p.A8)

1998 Mar 8, In northern
Afghanistan an avalanche crushed the village of Darbandi and killed
70 people.
(SFC, 3/7/98, p.A11)

1998 Mar 19, A Boeing 727
operated by Ariana state airline crashed 12 miles south of Kabul and
killed all 22 people on board.
(SFC, 3/20/98, p.A16)

1998 Mar 24, The UN announced a
pullout after the governor of Kandahar slapped the face of a UN
employee.
(SFC, 3/25/98, p.C14)

1998 Apr 27, Afghanistan peace
talks between the Taliban and its opponents were scheduled to begin
in Pakistan.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.A10)

1998 May 10, Opposition forces
launched a counterattack against the Taliban at Ishkamish, 120 miles
north of Kabul.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)

1998 May 17, Taliban jet
fighters bombed a crowded market and killed at least 30 people and
wounded 50 in Taloqan, the capital of Takhar province.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A12)

1998 May 19, Taliban officials
withdrew from the peace plan citing the refusal of the opposition to
cooperate.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.C2)

1998 May 30, An estimated 6.9
earthquake hit northern Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Shari Basurkh
was hit hardest and some estimates put the death toll up to 3,000.
The estimated deaths later reached 5,000.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A2)(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A1)(AP,
6/22/02)
1998 May 30, Pakistan set off a
nuclear bomb, the 6th test in 3 days.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A15)

1998 Jun 16, The Taliban
ordered the closing of over 100 private schools that had been
educating girls. Schools would not be allowed to teach girls older
than 8 and lessons were to be limited to the Koran.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.C16)

1998 Aug 7, In Pakistan Sadik
Howaida (34) was detained at the Karachi airport. He reportedly
later confessed to participating in the bombing in Nairobi. He said
that he and 2 co-conspirators had left Nairobi and planned to enter
Afghanistan a few days before the bombing. He later acknowledged
that the team was recruited and financed by Osama bin Laden who was
ensconced in a fortress-style hideout in Kandahar.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A17)(SFC, 8/17/98, p.12, 17)

1998 Aug 8, In Afghanistan the
Taliban overran Mazar-i-Sharif and killed 9 of 11 diplomats from
Iran. 8 of the dead were diplomats, the 9th was a journalist. Later
reports indicated that the Taliban killed as many as 4,000
civilians, mostly Hazaras, in a campaign partly designed to wipe out
the Shiite Muslim minority. Hazara residents were given 3 choices:
convert to Sunni Islam, leave for Shiite Iran, or die.
(SFC, 9/11/98, p.D4)(SFC, 9/18/98, p.D8)(SFC,
2/19/01, p.A9)(SFC, 2/12/02, p.A16)

1998 Aug 9, Victory in the
battle for Mazar-i-Sharif was claimed by both sides.
(WSJ, 8/10/98, p.A1)

1998 Aug 10, It appeared that
the Taliban were in control of Mazar-e-Sharif.
(WSJ, 8/11/98, p.A1)

1998 Aug 19, Mullah Mohamed
Omar, supreme Taliban ruler, said that: “Even if all the countries
of the world unite, we would defend Osama with our blood."
(WSJ, 8/21/98, p.A4)

1998 Aug 20, Pres. Clinton
ordered cruise missile attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan. About 50
missiles were fired at Zhawar Kili Al-Badr, the training camps of
Osama Bin Laden and some 25 missiles against a suspected chemical
plant in Khartoum. The US Operation Infinite Reach began in
Afghanistan and Sudan and cost over $50 million.
(WSJ, 8/21/98, p.A1)(SFC, 8/21/98, p.A1)(WSJ,
9/22/99, p.A8)

1998 Sep 2, A $415 million deal
was signed with the Taliban government for telecommunications by
Gary Breshinsky of Telephone Systems Int’l.
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A10)

1998 Nov 2, Mohammed Hashim
Bakhtiari, the brother-in-law of former slain Afghan President
Najibullah, was shot and killed in northwest Pakistan. Bakhtiari was
returning to his home in a posh suburb of Peshawar when assailants
opened fire with automatic rifles, police said. No one took
responsibility for the killing.
(SFC, 11/3/98, p.C12)(AP, 11/2/98)

1998 Dec 13, Kabul,
Afghanistan, was hit by a barrage of rockets that killed 17 and
wounded 80 people. The launch site appeared to come from an area
controlled by an ousted defense chief.
(WSJ, 12/14/98, p.A1)

1998 The Northern Alliance and
Taliban agreed to set up an Afghanistan Museum in Switzerland to
protect articles of cultural heritage. In 2000 a property in
Bubendorf was renovated.
(AM, 5/01, p.18)

1998 The CIA began to send
teams of American officers to northern Afghanistan to convince Ahmed
Shah Masood to capture and perhaps kill Osama bin Laden.
(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A14)

1999 Jan 18, The end of Ramadan
was marked by prisoner releases in Egypt, Palestine and Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 1/18/99, p.A1)

1999 Sep 10, The UN reported
that the production of opium doubled to 5,060 tons from 2,310 last
year.
(SFC, 9/11/99, p.A9)

1999 Sep 25, The Taliban bombed
Taloqan and 16 people were killed. At least 40 Taliban soldiers and
8 opposition soldiers were killed in a battle for Dasht-e-Archi.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A18)

1999 Sep 26, The Taliban bombed
Taloqan for a 2nd day and 11 people, most of them children were
killed.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A18)

1999 Sep 27, Afghanistan's
rulers protested a UN decision to reseat the former Rabbani
government, which was driven from Kabul in 1996.
(WSJ, 9/28/99, p.A1)

1999 Sep 28, 30 people were
killed a 35 others injured as a truck carrying refugees skidded off
a road and plunged into a river. The refugees were fleeing the
Taliban bombing at Taloqan.
(SFC, 9/29/99, p.C14)

1999 Oct 6, The US introduced a
resolution to the UN Security Council calling for the seizure of
assets of the Taliban militia and grounding all int'l. flights from
Afghanistan until Osama bin Laden is turned over.
(SFC, 10/7/99, p.A15)

1999 Oct 12, In Pakistan Gen'l.
Pervaiz Musharraf led a military coup after Prime Minister Shariff
tried to fire him and replace him with Gen'l. Zia Uddin. Musharraf
avoided martial law and left the parliament intact. Sharif refused
to let a passenger plane land in Karachi with 198 people aboard that
included Gen. Musharraf. The coup cut short a Pakistani commando
operation set up by the CIA to get Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/14/99, p.A21)(SFC,
4/6/00, p.A12)(SFC, 10/3/01, p.A10)

1999 Dec 24, In Nepal 5 Sikh
men, members of the Kashmir Harakut ul-Mujahedin, hijacked an Indian
Airlines A-300 Airbus with 189 people onboard. After 3 stops for
refueling it landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where it was
surrounded by Taliban militia. 26 passengers were released in Dubai.
They called for the release of Maulana Massood Azhar, a Pakistani
religious leader and other Kashmiri militants. They later raised
their demands to $200 million, the release of 35 jailed guerrillas
and the exhumation of a dead comrade buried in India. [see Dec 29]
(SFC, 12/25/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/27/99, p.A1)(SFC,
12/28/99, p.A9)(SFC, 12/29/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/14/01, p.A5)

1999 Dec 29, The Indian
Airlines hijackers dropped their demands for a $200 million ransom
and the body of a Kashmiri militant but haggled over the number of
militants to be released.
(SFC, 12/30/99, p.A1)

1999 Dec 31, The hijackers of
an Indian airline Flight 814 (see Dec 24) released all 150 hostages
after India released 3 jailed militants: Maulana Masood Azhar,
leader of the Harkat-ul-Ansar rebel group, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq
Zargat, an Indian Kashmiri. 4 hijackers came off the plane and left
one dead hijacker behind. The Taliban gave them 10 hours to leave
the country.
(SFC, 1/1/00, p.A19)(SFEC, 1/2/00, p.A25)

1999 Afghanistan under the
Taliban produced a record 4,600 tons of opium.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.46)

1999 A Taliban massacre took
place near Adreskan south of Herat following a short-lived revolt.
In 2002 a mass grave was found with 72 bodies.
(SFC, 1/11/02, p.A13)

2000 Feb 6, In Afghanistan an
Ariana Airlines Boeing 727 was hijacked with 186 people. It flew
from Kabul to Uzbekistan, Kazakstan and Russia before landing in
Stansted near London the next day with 179 hostages.
(SFC, 2/7/00, p.A12)(AP, 2/6/01)

2000 Feb 10, At Stansted,
England, 9 hijackers surrendered and released all hostages of the
Afghan jetliner.
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.A1)

2000 Feb 13, In Kandahar,
Afghanistan, a 10-year-old boy executed a man convicted of murdering
his father. A man convicted of highway robbery was also ordered to
have his right hand and left foot amputated according to Islamic
law.
(SFC, 2/14/00, p.A12)

2000 Feb 14, Seventy three
passengers from the hijacked jet returned to Afghanistan, while 74
remained in Britain seeking asylum. The passengers reported that 9
men had taken over their flight and appeared to be relatives of many
passengers.
(SFC, 2/15/00, p.A12)(WSJ, 2/16/00, p.A1)

2000 Apr 4, In Pakistan Arif
Khan (45), the governor of Kunduz province in Afghanistan, was shot
and killed along with his bodyguard by 2 gunmen in Peshawar.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A11)

2000 Apr, The Taliban arrested
3 men that they claimed were spying for America and Israel. Abdul
Rahim Janko (22) of Syria gave information that led to the arrest of
an American and an Iraqi named Arkan (24). Janko was later
interviewed and a video was made available.
(SFC, 5/5/00, p.A15)

2000 May 1, In Afghanistan
fighting was halted from May 1 to 5 to allow UN workers to immunize
some 4.5 million children under age 5 against polio.
(SFC, 5/6/00, p.C1)

2000 May 22, Russia asserted
that Afghanistan’s Taliban had signed an agreement with Chechen
rebels and that it might launch air strikes against Afghanistan.
(SFC, 5/23/00, p.A10)

2000 Jul 9, Mary MacMakin was
arrested for violating the Taliban ban on employing women. She led
the NGO: “Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Support for Afghanistan,"
(PARSA). MacMakin was released 3 days later ordered to leave the
country with accusations of spying and trying to convert Muslims to
Christianity.
(SFC, 7/10/00, p.A8)(SFC, 7/13/00, p.A13)

2000 Jul 12, The Taliban
rescinded a new edict barring women from working for int’l. relief
agencies.
(SFC, 7/13/00, p.A13)

2000 Aug 17, The Taliban
reversed its decision against women working in bakeries.
(SFC, 8/18/00, p.D6)

2000 Sep 1, The mine-clearing
operations were scheduled to be cut by 50% after the UN reported
lack of funds. 300 people were reported injured by mines every
month. Estimates of mines varied from 5-10 million.
(SFC, 9/2/00, p.C16)

2000 Sep 6, The Taliban
captured Taloqan, 160 miles north of Kabul. The Taliban lost about
500 soldiers, while the opposition lost about 300.
(SFC, 9/7/00, p.A12)(SFC, 9/8/00, p.D2)

2000 Taliban planes bombed
Dasht-e-Qaleh, a city of some 50,000, and some 400 residents were
killed.
(SFC, 10/31/01, p.A1)

2000 Mullah Qudratullah Jamal,
the Taliban minister of information and culture and Aqajan Motaseb,
minister of finance, lead a wrecking crew through the National
Museum. They destroyed a significant portion of the country’s
cultural heritage.
(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A11)

2001 Feb 15, A UN team
confirmed that the Taliban had nearly wiped out opium production in
Afghanistan.
(SFC, 2/16/01, p.A17)

2001 Feb 26, Taliban leader
Mullah Mohammed Omar ordered the destruction of all statues
including the Buddha statues carved into the stone cliffs of
Bamiyan. He called on the Ministry for the promotion of Virtue and
the Repression of Vice as well as the Ministry of Culture to destroy
all pre-Islamic statues and sanctuaries.
(SFC, 2/27/01, p.A10)(WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A14)

2001 May 4, A bomb killed at
least 8 people at a Sunni Muslim mosque in Herat. Hundreds of people
soon set fire to Shiite mosques and marched on the Iranian
Consulate.
(SFC, 5/5/01, p.D1)

2001 May 13, Pakistan refused
to give refugee status to tens of thousands of Afghans living in the
northwest part of the country. An estimated 50,000 Afghans were on
the move inside Afghanistan.
(SFC, 5/14/01, p.A12)

2001 May 17, The US pledged $43
million in aid to Afghanistan.
(SFC, 5/18/01, p.A14)

2001 Jun 16, Most UN bread
production for some 282,000 poor in Kabul ceased due to
disagreements on who should compile the list of people eligible for
the bread.
(SFC, 6/15/01, p.D6)(SSFC, 6/17/01, p.A20)

2001 Jun 17, The Taliban agreed
to let the World Food Program select, hire and train local women to
survey the food needs of vulnerable households.
(SFC, 6/19/01, p.A9)

2001 Sep 6, The Taliban jailed
35 more people working for a Christian aid organization.
(SFC, 9/10/01, p.B2)

2001 Sep 8, In Afghanistan 8
foreigners, arrested for preaching Christianity, appeared in an
Islamic court for the 1st time.
(SSFC, 9/9/01, p.A14)

2001 Sep 9, In Afghanistan
Ahmed Shah Masood (b.1953), the opposition leader (Lion of
Panjshir), was injured and a close aide killed from an explosion
triggered by agents posing as journalists. Massood (Massoud) died
shortly after the explosion.
(SFC, 9/10/01, p.B2)(SFC, 9/11/01, p.B1)
2001 Sep 9, Najwa bin laden
left her husband, Osama bin Laden, in Afghanistan and returned to
her native Syria, taking with her a son and her two youngest
daughters. Eman, Omar's sister, was left behind with her father and
siblings. Omar bin Laden (20) had left the family and Afghanistan
earlier in the year.
(AP, 1/6/10)

2001 Sep 11, Explosions
resounded north of Kabul near the airport just hours following
terrorist attacks in the US.
(SFC, 9/12/01, p.A15)

2001 Sep 12, Mohammad Omar, the
Taliban leader, went into hiding. The Taliban military repositioned
weaponry in anticipation of a US strike.
(SFC, 9/13/01, p.A12)

2001 Sep 13, The US requested
that Pakistan grant air and land space for military actions in
Afghanistan. US Special Forces arrived in Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 9/14/01, p.A1)(NW, 8/26/02, p.38)

2001 Sep 15, As many as 300,000
Afghans reportedly had fled Kandahar in fear of US air strikes.
(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A8)
2001 Sep 15, Iran ordered its
security forces to seal off its 560-mile border with Afghanistan.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 15, Pakistan agreed to
close its border with Afghanistan and pledged full support to combat
int’l. terrorism.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A7)

2001 Sep 17, In Afghanistan
Islamic clerics demanded proof from the US that Osama bin Laden was
responsible for the Sep 11 terrorist attacks. They also requested
that the Organization of Islamic Conference, a group of over 50
Muslim countries, make a formal demand for bin Laden’s handover.
(SFC, 9/18/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 17, Pakistan virtually
shut down its 1,560-mile border with Afghanistan. Some 1.2 million
Afghan refugees in the North-West Frontier Province were confined to
dozens of camps in the region.
(SFC, 9/18/01, p.A8)

2001 Sep 19, Pres. Bush warned
Afghanistan that he would not negotiate to take custody of Osama bin
Laden. The Pentagon began deploying troops, ships and planes to the
Persian Gulf under code name “Operation Infinite Justice."
(SFC, 9/20/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/20/01, p.A1)

2001 Sep 23, Osama bin Laden
issued a statement that called for Muslim brothers to resist the
“Christian-Jewish crusade led by the big crusader Bush under the
flag of the Cross…"
(SFC, 9/25/01, p.A6)

2001 Sep 24, Taliban officials
said they were dispatching 300,000 fighters to defend their borders.
Analysts estimated Taliban strength at 45,000 fighters with 20,000
in action against the Northern Alliance.
(SFC, 9/25/01, p.A5)
2001 Sep 24, The Taliban
occupied the offices of the UN World food Program and seized 1,400
metric tons of food.
(SFC, 9/25/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 24, The US received
from Russia an essential go-ahead to use 3 former republics as bases
for attacks on Afghanistan.
(SFC, 9/25/01, p.A1,6)
2001 Sep 24, Kazakstan offered
air and military bases to the US for attacks on Afghanistan.
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were said to be negotiating use of their
territory by the US.
(SFC, 9/25/01, p.A6)

2001 Sep 26, Protesters turned
a Taliban march into an attack on the mothballed US Embassy in
Kabul.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A8)

2001 Sep 27, The Taliban said
it had delivered an official request for Osama bin Laden to leave
the country.
(WSJ, 9/28/01, p.A1)

2001 Sep 28, Mohammed Omar told
a 9-member Pakistani delegation that the Taliban would be willing to
fight to the death to protect Osama bin Laden from US military
forces.
(SFC, 9/29/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 28, A Bush
administration official said that small groups of US and British
special forces had entered Afghanistan.
(SFC, 9/29/01, p.A1)

2001 Sep 29, Pres. Bush in his
weekly radio address condemned the Taliban for sheltering terrorists
and said: “We did not seek this conflict, but we will win it."
(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A4)

2001 Sep 30, Pres. Bush
authorized $100 million in new relief aid to Afghan refugees.
(SFC, 10/1/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 30, Leaders of the
Taliban said they had Osama bin Laden “under our control," but would
release him to the US only if shown proof that he plotted the Sep 11
attacks. Pres. Bush said he would not negotiate.
(SFC, 10/1/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 30, Northern Alliance
leader Younis Qanooni said he was optimistic about meeting with King
Zahir Shah (86).
(SFC, 10/1/01, p.A3)
2001 Sep 30, Pashtun chiefs
from both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border met in Quetta to
discuss the crisis brought on by the Sep 11 attacks on the US. The
groups included the Kuchi, Zadran, Ghilzai and Buzdar and were
crucial in the Taliban’s rise to power.
(SFC, 10/2/01, p.A6)

2001 Oct 1, The opposition
Northern Alliance of Afghanistan met in Rome with ex-king Zahir Shah
and agreed to form a broad-based government open to cooperation with
the West
(SFC, 10/2/01, p.A1)

2001 Oct 4, The US pledged $320
million in aid to Afghanistan refugees.
(SFC, 10/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 4, The British
government released a 16-page document over the Internet that
presented details on Osama bin Laden’s responsibility for the Sep 11
terrorist attacks.
(SFC, 10/5/01, p.A16)
2001 Oct 4, Pakistan announced
that it sees sufficient grounds for an indictment against Osama bin
Laden.
(WSJ, 10/5/01, p.A1)

2001 Oct 6, Pres. Bush warned
Afghanistan’s rulers that time is running out. The Taliban said it
would release 8 aid workers if the US “stops issuing threats" of
military action.
(SSFC, 10/7/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 6, The Northern
Alliance was building an airport outside Golbahar to allow a US-led
coalition to funnel in military supplies.
(SSFC, 10/7/01, p.A5)

2001 Oct 8, US forces hit
Afghanistan with a 2nd wave of attacks. 40 Taliban commanders along
with 1,200 men switched sides and handed over control of a
provincial road north of Kabul. 4 UN civilian workers were later
confirmed as casualties of the bombing; Abdul Saboor, Safiullah,
Najibullah and Nasir Ahmad worked for a mine clearing agency. The
Taliban ambassador to Pakistan reported 200 civilian casualties.
(SFC, 10/9/01, p.A1)(SFC, 10/10/01, p.A3)(WSJ,
10/10/01, p.A1)(SFC, 10/10/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 12/4/01, p.A20)

2001 Oct 10, US warplanes
struck an ammunition dump at the edge of Kandahar and secondary
explosions left some civilian casualties.
(SFC, 10/15/01, p.A3)

2001 Oct 11, Abdul Salam Zaeem,
Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, said US bombing in Afghanistan killed
some 100 non-combatants in the Torghar region near Jalalabad. The
total civilian casualties since Oct 7 was estimated at 170.
(SFC, 10/12/01, p.A13)
2001 Oct 11, In Afghanistan
that Northern Alliance claimed to have taken the central province of
Gur and the provincial capital Chaghcharan. American bombing
reportedly killed as many as 200 civilians in Karam and Jalalabad.
(SFC, 10/12/01, p.A13)(SFC, 10/13/01, p.A1,9)

2001 Oct 15, US warplanes
carried out their heaviest bombings in 9 days over Afghanistan. The
Pentagon called in the slow moving AC-130 Spectre gunships to
targets around Kandahar.
(SFC, 10/16/01, p.A1)

2001 Oct 16, Over 100 aircraft
struck targets in Afghanistan and 2 gunships fired on Taliban and al
Qaeda troops. U.S. bombs struck the Red Cross compound in
Afghanistan, injuring a guard.
(WSJ, 10/17/01, p.A1)(AP, 10/16/02)
2001 Oct 16, It was reported
that the US strategy in the bombing of Afghanistan was failing
because it contradicted a Pashtun code of honor known as
Pashtunwali. Central to the code is nang, where death is taught to
be preferable to a life without honor. A 2nd tenet called badal,
revenge, taught that only way to redeem honor is to avenge it. A 3rd
tenet called melmastiya, hospitality, was exploited by Osama bin
Laden as a guest in the country.
(SFC, 10/16/01, p.A17)

2001 Oct 18, The city of
Kandahar was reported to have collapsed to “pre-Taliban
lawlessness."
(SFC, 10/19/01, p.A5)

2001 Oct 18, In Afghanistan the
city of Kandahar was reported to have collapsed to “pre-Taliban
lawlessness." The first US Special Forces were reported to have
begun operating on the ground in southern Afghanistan.
(SFC, 10/19/01, p.A5)

2001 Oct 19, US commandoes
attacked a Taliban stronghold in Kandahar in the 1st known ground
action involving US troops.
(SFC, 10/20/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 19, Some 3,500
refugees arrived near the Pakistani border town of Chaman, the
largest number to date. The number had averaged about 2,000.
(SFC, 10/20/01, p.A6)

2001 Oct 20, US commandos
struck 2 targets in Afghanistan that included an airfield and a
command complex near Kandahar. Two 500-pound bombs hit a residential
center area northwest of Kabul.
(SSFC, 10/21/01, p.A1)(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A12)
2001 Oct 20, It was reported
that the US was using a 40-year-old EC C-130 plane called “Commando
Solo" to broadcast messages and music over Afghanistan.
(SFC, 10/20/01, p.A10
2001 Oct 20, Pakistan confirmed
that it was holding talks with a senior Taliban commander, Mullah
Jalaluddin Haqqani, on the makeup of a future Afghan government.
(SSFC, 10/21/01, p.A18)

2001 Oct 21, US warplanes hit
Taliban frontline troops north of Kabul in the fiercest hits to
date. A 1000-pound bomb hit near a senior citizens home in Herat. US
air strikes at Thorai killed 21 civilians.
(SFC, 10/22/01, p.A1)(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A12)(SSFC,
7/21/02, p.A14)
2001 Oct 21, A Taliban official
reported that 5 of their men had been executed as spies.
(SFC, 10/22/01, p.A5)

2001 Oct 22, The Pentagon flew
restricted attacks over Afghanistan using mostly carrier-based
aircraft. Def. Sec. Donald Rumsfeld denied that US and British
planes bombed a hospital in Herat where the Taliban claimed 100
people were killed. One Pentagon official did say that a US missile
had gone astray near Herat and might have struck a non-military
target.
(SFC, 10/23/01, p.A1,4)
2001 Oct 22, US AC-130 gunships
descended on a farm at Chowkar-Karez outside Kandahar and killed 19
civilians.
(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A12)
2001 Oct 22, Pakistan reached
an agreement with the Taliban to accept the return of thousands of
refugees. The Taliban agreed to set up 2 refugee camps inside
Afghanistan.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A12)

2001 Oct 24, In Afghanistan US
jets attacked frontline Taliban positions for a 4th day. The
Pentagon accused the Taliban regime of planning to poison relief
food supplies and to blame the US for resulting deaths.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.A3, A4)
2001 Oct 24, Some 1500
Afghanistan leaders met in Pakistan for a 2-day Assembly for Peace
and National Unity in Afghanistan. Pir Sayed Ahmed Gailani, a
religious leader, presided.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A12)(SFC, 10/25/01, p.A5)
2001 Oct 24, It was reported
that Abdul Haq, a Pashtun opposition leader, had entered southern
Afghanistan with some 100 men to open an ethnic-Pashtun front
against the Taliban.
(WSJ, 10/24/01, p.A16)

2001 Oct 26, US warplanes hit
Red Cross warehouses in Kabul a 2nd time by accident. Afghan
officials said 3 children were killed in overnight raids. A human
rights group said that as many as 35 civilians were killed in
Chowkar-Karez, near Kandahar from US air strikes. The Taliban
captured and executed Abdul Haq, a prominent opposition leader, who
was attempting to arrange defections.
(SFC, 10/27/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/4/01, p.A20)

2001 Oct 27, US warplanes hit
frontline Taliban positions in the heaviest attacks to date. 10
people were reported killed from an errant bomb in the village of
Ghanikhel in Kapisa province.
(SSFC, 10/28/01, p.A3)
2001 Oct 27, Over 5000
volunteers headed into Afghanistan from Temergarah, Pakistan, to
help fight a holy war against the US.
(SSFC, 10/28/01, p.A14)
2001 Oct 27, Ruue Lubbers, the
UN refugee chief, said some 150,000 Afghans had crossed into
Pakistan in recent weeks.
(SSFC, 10/28/01, p.A8)

2001 Oct 28, The US expanded
air strikes over Afghanistan and hit targets in Kabul,
Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar and near the Tajik
border. 13 civilians, including 4 children, were reported killed in
Kabul.
(SFC, 10/29/01, p.A1)

2001 Oct 30, The Pentagon
reported that a small number of US ground forces were operating in
northern Afghanistan.
(SFC, 10/31/01, p.A3)

2001 Oct 31, US bombing in
Afghanistan was reported to be the heaviest in the 4-week campaign.
(SFC, 11/1/01, p.A1)

2001 Oct, Oybek Jabbarov, his
pregnant wife and infant son were living as refugees near the
Afghan-Uzbek border when he accepted a lift in a car with soldiers
of the National Alliance, an Afghan military faction long at war
with the Taliban. He says the soldiers kidnapped him, falsely
branded him a Taliban fighter, and delivered him to US troops to
collect an easy bounty. He was transferred to Guantanamo in 2002 and
cleared for release in February 2007, but kept in custody until
2009, when he was transferred to Ireland.
(AP, 9/27/09)

2001 Nov 1, US planes made
their heaviest assaults to date in northern Afghanistan.
(SFC, 11/2/01, p.A3)
2001 Nov 1, In Pakistan a
statement attributed to bin Laden accused the government of
supporting a Christian crusade and urged people to defend their
faith.
(SFC, 11/2/01, p.A3)

2001 Nov 2, A US helicopter
crashed due to weather in northern Afghanistan. 4 crew members were
injured and retrieved by another helicopter.
(SFC, 11/3/01, p.A6)

2001 Nov 4, The US moved more
special operations forces into Afghanistan and continued air strikes
on the Taliban front lines. The Air Force dropped a 15,000 pound
fuel-air explosion bomb called a Daisy Cutter that was last used in
the Vietnam War. Thousands of foreign volunteers were reported
moving to the Taliban front lines.
(SFC, 11/5/01, p.A1,3)(SFC, 11/6/01, p.A3)

2001 Nov 5, US bombing
continued to hit Taliban front lines and attacks concentrated on
caves and tunnels. About 2 dozen US commandos were reported to be in
Afghanistan.
(SFC, 11/6/01, p.A3)(WSJ, 11/6/01, p.A1)

2001 Nov 6, US bombs killed a
number of civilians in Kabul. The UN later reported that erroneous
bombing killed 30 civilians in Kabul over the 1st 37 days of
bombing.
(SFC, 11/24/01, p.A5)
2001 Nov 6, The Northern
Alliance took Aq Kupak and Keshendeh.
(SFC, 11/14/01, p.A3)
2001 Nov 6, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder said he would activate 3,900 troops for action in
Afghanistan.
(SFC, 11/7/01, p.A5)

2001 Nov 10, In day 35 of US
attacks in Afghanistan the Northern alliance claimed the capture of
the provincial capitals of Shibarghan, Meimanah, and Aybal. Taliban
forces were surrounded near Taloqan and Kunduz.
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.A3)

2001 Nov 11, In Afghanistan
Northern Alliance forces with help from US warplanes and advisers
captured Taloqan and some 200 Taliban were reported killed. Local
warlords accepted a payment to change allegiance.
(SFC, 11/10/01, p.A1)(SFC, 11/12/01, p.A3)(SFC,
11/14/01, p.A3)
2001 Nov 11, Two French radio
reporters and a German magazine journalist were killed when they
came under Taliban fire in Afghanistan.
(AP, 11/11/02)

2001 Nov 12, In Afghanistan
Taliban forces abandoned Kabul and Northern Alliance forces moved in
to the capital. The Taliban took with them 8 foreign aid workers.
There were reports of looting and summary executions. 3 European
journalists died in the fighting.
(SFC, 11/13/01, p.A1,2,15)(WSJ, 11/13/01, p.A1)

2001 Nov 13, US warplanes hit
Taliban convoys leaving Kabul. The Al Jazeera office in Kabul was
bombed. Kabul residents rejoiced at the departure of the Taliban.
The Northern Alliance retreated at Kunduz when a suspected surrender
turned into an attack. Some $5.3 million vanished from the Central
Bank Mille in Kabul.
(SFC, 11/14/01, p.A1,2,3)(WSJ, 12/4/01, p.A15)

2001 Nov 14, In Afghanistan the
Northern Alliance pushed toward Kunduz and Kandahar. 8 Western
relief workers were rescued including 2 Americans. Mohammed Atef, a
top al Qaeda military strategist, was believed killed by a bomb near
Kabul. US air strikes at Gardez killed 23 civilians.
(SFC, 11/15/01, p.A1)(SFC, 11/17/01, p.A3)(SSFC,
7/21/02, p.A14)
2001 Nov 14, The UN Security
Council approved a resolution to fill the political vacuum in
Afghanistan and to provide security in areas freed by anti-Taliban
forces.
(SFC, 11/15/01, p.A5)
2001 Nov 14, Britain pledged
5,000 more troops to Afghanistan in addition to 4,500 already in the
war zone.
(SFC, 11/15/01, p.A9)

2001 Nov 15, Day 40 of the
attack on Afghanistan: Osama bin Laden’s Brigade 055 dispersed into
the mountains of Afghanistan. US planes struck Taliban positions
outside Kunduz, where as many as 20,000 Taliban fighters gathered.
Kandahar went under siege by opposition forces. Jalalabad was
reported to be under Yunis Khalis of the Northern Alliance. Mullah
Omar in a BBC radio interview warned of a larger strategy: the
“destruction of America."
(SFC, 11/16/01, p.A1,9)(SFC, 11/17/01, p.A4)
2001 Nov 15, On about this day
2 al-Qaeda computers were acquired by a Wall Street journalist in
Kabul for $1,100 following US bombing. They were found to contain
over 1,750 text and video files of al Qaeda activities including
weapons programs. One file contained the names of 170 al Qaeda
members.
(SFC, 1/1/02, p.A10)(WSJ, 1/16/02, p.A1)

2001 Nov 16, In Afghanistan US
air strikes killed 20 civilians at Zani Khel and at least 65 at
Khost. US bombing began at Tora Bora.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.A14)(NW, 8/26/02, p.38)
2001 Nov 16, The Taliban was
reported ready to abandon Kandahar. The Northern Alliance took over
Radio Kabul and other key city offices.
(SFC, 11/17/01, p.A1,3)

2001 Nov 18, Northern Alliance
leaders agreed to join UN sponsored talks to form a new government.
Haji Qadir formed a new alliance to govern Jalalabad. US planes
continued strikes around Kunduz and Kandahar. US strikes on a
Taliban convoy were later considered as a marking point for the
downfall of the Taliban.
(SFC, 11/19/01, p.A1,3)(SFC, 1/2/02, p.A6)

2001 Nov 19, Some Taliban began
secret negotiations for the surrender of Kandahar. They said outside
forces had taken over their movement and named: the int’l. drug
mafia, int’l. terrorists, the puritanical Wahabi school of Sunni
Islam, and Pakistan intelligence.
(SSFC, 11/25/01, p.A3)
2001 Nov 19, It was reported
that 400 Afghan Taliban soldiers were killed while trying to defect
last week. Gen. Dostum led Northern Alliance troops in the area.
Defectors continued to stream out of Kunduz as US war planes
continued to bomb Taliban positions.
(SFC, 11/19/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/1/02, p.A12)
2001 Nov 19, Four foreign
journalists and their Afghan guide were killed in an ambush between
Jalalabad and Kabul: Harry Burton of Australia (Reuters), Azizullah
Haidari, Afghan photographer (Reuters), Julio Fuentes of Spain (El
Mundo, Madrid), and Maria Grazia Cutuli of Italy (Corriere della
Sera, Milan). In 2004 Afghan judges sentenced Reza Khan to death for
his role in the ambush. Khan said he was under orders from militia
commander Mohammed Agha.
(SFC, 11/20/01, p.A3)(SSFC, 11/21/04, p.A10)

2001 Nov 20, In Afghanistan the
Northern Alliance gave the Taliban in Kunduz 3 days to give up. The
alliance controlling Afghanistan's capital and much of its
countryside agreed to attend power-sharing talks in Germany the
following week.
(WSJ, 11/21/01, p.A1)(AP, 11/20/02)

2001 Nov 23, Taliban troop
contingents were reported to have dug in at 2 bases near Jalalabad
including an estimated 1,200 at Tora Bora. It was also reported that
Pakistani airplanes were being used to evacuate pro-Taliban
Pakistani fighters in Kunduz.
(SFC, 11/24/01, p.A1)

2001 Nov 24, Thousands of
Taliban fighters surrendered at Kunduz. A few turned out to be
suicide bombers, who killed 5-6 Northern Alliance commanders. Afghan
troops captured Salim Ahmen Hamdan in southern Afghanistan in a car
with four other alleged al-Qaida associates who exchanged fire with
the Afghan troops. Three of the other men in the car, including a
son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, were killed. Hamdan, who was sent to
Guantanamo, admitted working as bin Laden's driver in Afghanistan.
(SSFC, 11/25/01, p.A1)(NW, 8/26/02, p.22)(AP,
12/5/07)

2001 Nov 25, Taliban troops
near Mazar-e-Sharif staged a prison revolt and hundreds were
reported killed. US marines landed near Kandahar marking the 1st
major use of US ground troops in Afghanistan. 5 Americans were
injured by an American bomb and 1 CIA agent, Johnny Michael Spann
(32), was reportedly killed.
(SFC, 11/26/01, p.A1)(SFC, 11/27/01, p.A8)(SFC,
11/29/01, p.A1)(NW, 12/10/01, p.31)

2001 Nov 26, The Taliban
surrendered the border town of Spinbaldak as US Marines directed air
attacks on a column of enemy vehicles. Fighting continued with
prisoners at Qala Jangi and most were reported killed along with
40-50 Northern Alliance soldiers.
(SFC, 11/27/01, p.A1,10)

2001 Nov 27, Afghan factions
met in Bonn, Germany, and agreed to give former King Mohammad Zahir
Shah a role in a new Afghan government. 4 factions included 11
delegates from the Northern Alliance, 11 from the Rome Group, 3 from
exiles in Cyprus, and 3 from exiles in Pakistan.
(SFC, 11/28/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 27, Olaf Stromberg, a
Swedish TV journalist, was killed while sleeping in northern
Afghanistan during a suspected robbery attempt. He was the 8th
journalist slain in the conflict.
(SFC, 11/27/01, p.A10)(SFC, 11/28/01, p.A1)

2001 Nov 28, Ahmed Abdel-Rahman
(35), a top al Qaeda operative and son of the blind sheik linked to
the 1993 WTC bombing, was captured by anti-Taliban forces. The
Taliban said some 600 people including 450 prisoners were killed in
the uprising at Qala Jangi. US bombing continued with intermittent
strikes.
(SFC, 11/29/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/29/01, p.A1)(WSJ,
11/30/01, p.A1)

2001 Nov 28, From Nov 28-30
thousands of Taliban fighters, who had surrendered at Kunduz were
shipped by container truck to prison camps at Sheberghan. Up to 960
died enroute, mostly from asphyxiation.
(SSFC, 11/25/01, p.A1)(NW, 8/26/02, p.22)

2001 Nov, Burhanuddin Rabbani,
political leader of the Northern Alliance, issued an amnesty to all
Taliban except for non-Afghans.
(SFC, 12/4/01, p.A11)
2001 Nov, A treatise by Ayman
al Zawahiri was smuggled out of Afghanistan. It was published in Dec
by an Arabic language newspaper in London.
(SFC, 1/1/02, p.A10)
2001 Nov, Juma Namangani,
al-Qaeda member and co-founder of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
(IMU), died following critical injuries from US bombing in Kunduz,
Afghanistan.
(SFC, 12/7/01, p.F1)

2001 Dec 1, In Afghanistan
Farida Afzali (21) became the 1st woman in 5 years to enroll at
Kabul Univ. Day 56: US bombing continued around Kandahar and over
Tora Bora near Kabul, where 3 villages were hit and a number of
civilians killed and injured. Air strikes at Khan-I-Merjahuddin
killed 48 civilians. Air strikes at Madoo killed 48 civilians.
(SSFC, 12/2/01, p.A2)(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.A14)
2001 Dec 1, In Germany 4 Afghan
factions continued to work on a 20-member “interim authority."
(SSFC, 12/2/01, p.A3)

2001 Dec 4, US bombing
continued at Kandahar and Tora Bora. Baglan and Balkh were noted as
a pockets of resistance with up to 3,500 Taliban militiamen. An
interim government was scheduled to take power Dec 22.
(SFC, 12/5/01, p.A14)

2001 Dec 7, In Afghanistan
Taliban soldiers fled Kandahar and left the city in chaos. Day 62:
Assaults continued around Tora Bora where up to 2,000 bin Laden
loyalists were positioned at a mountain redoubt. Aryana Airline made
its 1st domestic flight since Oct 7 with a flight from Herat to
Kabul.
(SFC, 12/8/01, p.A1,14)(SFC, 12/14/01, p.E6)

2001 Dec 8, John Walker Lindh,
a Taliban soldier from Marin County, Ca., was held at Camp Rhino
near Kandahar as a battlefield detainee. He was captured a week
earlier following the prison revolt at Mazar-e-Sharif.
(SSFC, 12/9/01, p.A1)

2001 Dec 9, US B-52s continued
strikes over Tora Bora. A Northern Alliance helicopter crashed and
18 people were killed including 2 Pashtun commanders. The last
province under Taliban control, Zabul, was handed over to tribal
leaders.
(SFC, 12/10/01, p.A12)
2001 Dec 9, The Friendship
Bridge linking Afghanistan and Uzbekistan was opened for aid
transport.
(SFC, 12/10/01, p.A12)

2001 Dec 10, US air strikes
continued at Bora Bora and Afghan fighters moved in on al Qaeda
defenders in fortified caves.
(SFC, 12/11/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 10, It was reported
that at least 43 Taliban prisoners had died in shipping containers
during a 2-3 day transit from Kunduz to Shibirghan.
(SFC, 12/11/01, p.A17)

2001 Dec 11, US bombers
continued to hit sites at Tora Bora, Afghanistan, as a deadline for
al Qaeda surrender passed.
(SFC, 12/12/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 11, Australia reported
that an Australian citizen, David Hicks (26), who had trained with
the al Qaeda, had been captured in Afghanistan.
(SFC, 12/12/01, p.A19)(SFC, 12/15/01, p.A16)

2001 Dec 13, The US Defense
Dept. released a videotape of Osama bin Laden talking about the Sep
11 attacks. The tape clearly indicated his advance knowledge of the
suicide attacks. The tape was found weeks ago in Jalalabad.
(SFC, 12/13/01, p.A7)(SFC, 12/14/01, p.A1)(WSJ,
12/14/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 13, The US military
sent in special operations forces into the Tora Bora area to look
for al Qaeda leaders.
(SFC, 12/14/01, p.A1)

2001 Dec 14, American and
British commandos behind a screen of local Afghan fighters contained
the last remnants of al Qaeda forces in the White Mountains of Tora
Bora. American Marines occupied Kandahar airport.
(SFC, 12/15/01, p.A1,16)
2001 Dec 14, European leaders
agreed to send 4,000 troops to Afghanistan.
(SFC, 12/15/01, p.A16)

2001 Dec 16, In Afghanistan 25
bin Laden soldiers were captured and 200 were killed in the Tora
Bora region. After 9 weeks of fighting, Afghan militia leaders
claimed control of the last mountain bastion of Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaida fighters. There was no sign of bin Laden.
(SFC, 12/17/01, p.A1)(AP, 12/16/02)

2001 Dec 17, US Marines raised
the Stars and Stripes over the long-abandoned American Embassy in
Kabul, inaugurating what U.S. envoy James F. Dobbins promised would
be a long commitment to the rebuilding.
(AP, 12/17/02)
2001 Dec 17, In Afghanistan US
Delta forces pursued some 300 al Qaeda fighters in the White
Mountains. Mullah Omar was reported to have retreated to the
mountains near Baghran.
(SFC, 12/18/01, p.A1,14)

2001 Dec 18, Hundreds of al
Qaeda and Taliban fighters were reported to have slipped into
Pakistan from Afghanistan.
(SFC, 12/19/01, p.A1)

2001 Dec 19, Britain advised
the UN that it would lead a security force in Afghanistan and
contribute 1,500 soldiers to a force of 5,000.
(SFC, 12/19/01, p.A14)

2001 Dec 20, In Afghanistan the
1st int’l. peacekeeping forces arrived from Britain as the U.N.
Security Council authorized a multinational force for Afghanistan. A
grenade attack in Mazar-e-Sharif market wounded some 35-100 people.
US air strikes at Asmani and Pokharai killed about 50 civilians.
(SFC, 12/21/01, p.A24)(WSJ, 12/21/01, p.A1)(AP,
12/20/02)

2001 Dec 21, US warplanes
attacked a convoy of trucks heading for the Pakistan border and 65
people were reported killed. 12 were killed in the convoy and 15 in
nearby villages. The convoy was said to be heading for Kabul.
(SFC, 12/22/01, p.A19)(SFC, 12/29/01, p.A16)
2001 Dec 21, In Kabul,
Afghanistan, power was officially transferred from Pres. Rabbani to
Hamid Karzai.
(SFC, 12/22/01, p.A1)

2001 Dec 23, It was reported
that Hazrat Ali, an Afghanistan eastern alliance commander, had
negotiated a deal to release al Qaeda troops in the Tora Bora
region. The new cabinet met in Kabul for the 1st time.
(SSFC, 12/23/01, p.A20)(SFC, 12/24/01, p.A10)

2001 Dec 27, The US announced
plans to hold Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay
naval base in Cuba.
(SFC, 12/28/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 27, US warplanes
destroyed a compound in eastern Afghanistan believed used by a
Taliban intelligence chief. Local villagers said as many as 40
civilians were killed. Qari Ahmadullah (40), former Taliban chief of
intelligence, was killed while fleeing US bombardment near Naka
village in Paktia province.
(SFC, 12/28/01, p.A22)(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A1)

2001 Dec 29, US airstrikes in
Paktia province were later reported to have killed up to 100
villagers.
(SFC, 1/2/02, p.A6)

2001 Dec 30, Four Afghan
soldiers were killed near Herat as they stacked boxes of ammunition.
(SFC, 12/31/01, p.A6)

2001 Dec 31, The US planned to
deploy elements of the 101st Airborne Division to replace Marines
near Kandahar. US troops moved by helicopter to Helmand province,
the region where Mohammed Omar was suspected to be.
(WSJ, 12/31/01, p.A1)

2001 Dec, In Afghanistan US air
strikes in late Dec. at Niazi Qala killed 52 civilians.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.A14)

2001 Jason Elliot authored “An
Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan."
(SSFC, 4/1/01, BR p.10)
2001 Larry Goodson authored
“Afghanistan’s Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics and the
Rise of the Taliban."
(WSJ, 10/15/01, p.A22)
2001 US amicable relations with
the Haqqani network, an Afghan militant group, ended. The group,
with bases in Pakistan’s North Waziristan, had US ties that dated
back to the anti-Soviet campaign in the 1980s.
(Economist, 9/15/12, p.38)

2002 Jan 2, The new Afghan
government confirmed that American bombs had killed the Taliban's
intelligence chief, Qari Ahmadullah.
(AP, 1/2/03)

2002 Jan 3, US warplanes hit an
al Qaeda compound in the Khost region south of Tora Bora and Islamic
fighters near Baghran were reported to be in negotiations.
(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A19)(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 3, Afghan troops beat
back refugees seeking food at a Red Crescent compound in
Jalalabad. There were numerous reports of stolen wheat and relief
supplies attributed to members of the Eastern Shura.
(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A1)

2002 Jan 4, US Army Special
Forces Sgt. Ross Chapman (31) was killed by enemy fire near Khost,
Afghanistan. He became the 1st US soldier to die their by enemy
fire.
(SFC, 1/5/02, p.A1)

2002 Jan 7, US planes bombed
cave complexes in Afghanistan as Tony Blair arrived in Kabul. He
said the West would not abandon Afghanistan. 9 US senators also
visited the area.
(SFC, 1/8/02, p.A11)(WSJ, 1/8/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 7, In Kandahar 7
Taliban officials surrendered and were released by the governor.
None of the released were on US wanted lists.
(SFC, 1/10/02, p.A1)(SFC, 1/11/02, p.A13)
2002 Jan 7, Canada announced
plans to send 750 soldiers to join US combat operations in
Afghanistan.
(SFC, 1/8/02, p.A11)

2002 Jan 8, US soldiers
captured 14 suspected fighters at the Zhawar Kili cave and bunker
complex near Khost. An al Qaeda fighter blew himself up with a
grenade during an escape attempt at a Kandahar hospital. 2 senior al
Qaeda leaders were reported caught with documents and laptops, while
fleeing bombing in eastern Afghanistan. An intensified search was
reported to be in progress for Abu Zubeida (Zain al-Abidin Muhammad
Husain), the director of external affairs for al Qaeda.
(SFC, 1/9/02, p.A8)

2002 Jan 10, In Afghanistan
gunmen attacked the Kandahar airport as a US military transport took
off carrying al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners to the US Guantanamo Bay
naval base in Cuba.
(SFC, 1/11/02, p.A5)

2002 Jan 12, The United States
intensified its anti-terror campaign in eastern Afghanistan,
dropping bombs on suspected al-Qaida and Taliban hideouts.
(SSFC, 1/13/02, p.A8)(AP, 1/12/03)
2002 Jan 12, The World Food
Program halted aid shipments in Afghanistan about this time due to
theft and looting by bandits and warlords.
(SSFC, 1/13/02, p.A10)

2002 Jan 21, Sec. of State
Colin Powell said the US would contribute $297 million for Afghan
reconstruction over the coming year during a conference on Afghan
reconstruction in Tokyo. Int’l. donors pledged over $4.5 billion
over 5 years.
(SFC, 1/21/02, p.A1)(SFC, 1/22/02, p.A12)

2002 Jan 22, US officials
reported that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a former head of al Qaeda
training in Afghanistan, had provided information on an alleged plot
to blow up the US Embassy in Yemen a week earlier.
(SFC, 1/23/02, p.A9)

2002 Jan 23-2002 Jan24, US
soldiers captured 27 Taliban fighters in Hazar Qadam, north of
Kandahar. Gov. Jan Muhammad Khan later said that 60 people were
killed and denied that any were Taliban or al Qaeda fighters. US
military later acknowledged that some of the dead may have been
allies. The captives were released Feb 6 and reported that they had
been beaten and abused. The Pentagon acknowledged Feb 21 that 16
villagers were mistakenly killed.
(SFC, 1/25/02, p.A18)(SSFC, 1/27/02, p.A8)(SFC,
2/2/02, p.A10)(SFC, 2/7/02, p.A19)(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A18)(SFC,
2/11/02, p.A1)(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A16)

2002 Jan 25, Afghan leaders
called for an increase in peacekeeping troops as warlords competed
for power outside of Kabul.
(SFC, 1/26/02, p.A14)

2002 Jan 27, Hamid Karzai,
interim Afghan leader, began a visit to the US and asked Afghan
Americans to return and help with reconstruction.
(SFC, 1/28/02, p.A1)

2002 Feb 14, Abdul Rahman, the
Air Transportation Minister, was reported killed by a mob of Muslim
pilgrims at Kabul Airport seeking transport to Mecca. Hamid Karzai
later said senior officials were responsible and blamed the killing
on a personal vendetta. Gen. Tawhidi and Gen. Beg were among the
accused. Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah later said the attack
was not premeditated.
(SFC, 2/15/02, p.A20)(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A3)(SFC,
2/21/02, p.A16)

2002 Feb 15, It was reported
that thousands of civilians in Balkh province had been terrorized by
soldiers of Gen. Dostum since the fall of the Taliban.
(SFC, 2/15/02, p.A1)

2002 Feb 16, Afghanistan
British peacekeepers came under fire at an observation post in
Kabul.
(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A18)
2002 Feb 16-17, In Afghanistan
US forces made bombing raids aimed at controlling clashes among
militia forces. Pentagon officials later said the attacks were
against suspected al Qaeda fighters.
(SFC, 2/19/02, p.A9)(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A14)

2002 Feb 23, The US government
said it had clues that Osama bin Laden was still alive in
Afghanistan.
(SSFC, 2/24/02, p.A16)

2002 Mar 3, A 7.2 earthquake
was centered in northeast Afghanistan and at least 100 people were
killed.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A10)
2002 Mar 3, US military forces
and 6 allied nations made air and ground assaults against al Qaeda
and Taliban fighters in the Afghan Shah-e-Kot mountains of eastern
Paktia province.
(SFC, 3/4/02, p.A1)

2002 Mar 4, At least 7 US
soldiers were killed while trying to drop off reconnaissance teams
in fighting in Paktia province. 6 of the soldiers were killed in an
effort to try to rescue a 7th during Operation Anaconda.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A1)(SFC, 3/6/02, p.A1,12)

2002 Mar 6, US commanders in
Afghanistan committed an additional 300 troops to the battle zone in
the Shah-I-Kot mountains. Taliban and al-Qaeda forces were reported
to have swollen by as many as 500 fighters. US jets killed 14 people
in the area including women and children.
(SFC, 3/7/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/13/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 6, In Kabul 3 Danish
and 2 German peacekeeping soldiers were killed while defusing a
soviet era missile.
(WSJ, 3/7/02, p.A1)

2002 Mar 14, In Pakistan Pres.
Musharraf said the war in Afghanistan is over. The 12 day Operation
Anaconda left as many as 800 enemy fighters dead.
(SFC, 3/15/02, p.A14)

2002 Mar 20, Militants attacked
the Khost airport and another base north of the city and killed 3
Afghans. Coalition troops called in air strikes.
(SFC, 3/21/02, p.A13)

2002 Mar 23, The return of King
Zahir Shah was postponed for a few weeks by the Italian government
due to security reasons.
(SSFC, 3/24/02, p.A18)

2002 Mar 25, In Afghanistan a
5.8-6.1 earthquake was centered 105 miles north of Kabul and early
reports of deaths reached to 1,800. The city of Nahrin was reported
destroyed. Deaths in Baghlan province were reduced to 600-800 with
100,000 left homeless.
(SFC, 3/26/02, p.A6)(SFC, 3/27/02, p.A1)(SFC,
3/29/02, p.A9)(SFC, 3/30/02, p.A10)(AP, 6/22/02)

2002 Mar 28, Matthew J.
Bourgeois (35), a Navy Seal from Tallahassee, was killed by a land
mine in Kandahar.
(SFC, 3/29/02, p.A9)

2002 Apr 3, Afghan security
officials reported the arrests of hundreds of political opponents
who planned a conspiracy and bombing campaign that was linked to
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. 140 men were released the next day, while 160
remained under detention.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A8)(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A9)

2002 Apr 4, Afghan officials
reported that poppy farmers would be offered $500 per acre to
destroy their crops. Refusal would still result in crop destruction.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A8)

2002 Apr 8, In Kabul a bomb
exploded near the convoy of Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim and at
least 5 people were killed including 2 children.
(SFC, 4/9/02, p.A7)

2002 Apr 15, In Afghanistan 4
American soldiers were killed near Kandahar while disarming a
rocket.
(SFC, 4/16/02, p.A8)

2002 Apr 18, Afghanistan's
former king, Mohammad Zaher Shah (87), returned to his country after
29 years in exile.
(SFC, 4/19/02, p.A11)(AP, 4/18/03)
2002 Apr 18, A US fighter jet
accidentally dropped a laser-guided bomb on Canadian forces near
Kandahar, Afghanistan, and 4 soldiers were killed. On Sep 12 two
U.S. F-16 fighter pilots were charged with manslaughter and assault
in the "friendly fire" bombing of Canadian troops that killed four
soldiers and injured eight. In 2004 USAF pilot Maj. Harry Schmidt
was found guilty of dereliction of duty. He received a reprimand and
was docked a month’s pay.
(SFC, 4/18/02, p.A10)(SFC, 6/19/02,
p.A8)(Reuters, 9/13/02)(SFC, 7/7/04, p.A6)

2002 Apr 27, In Afghanistan 25
people were killed in Gardez from rockets fired by Padsha Khan
Zadran in a bid to take the provincial capital. The attack came just
before Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld landed at Bagram Air Base.
(SSFC, 4/28/02, p.A17)(WSJ, 4/29/02, p.A1)

2002 May 1, Some 560-614
prisoners were released from the northern Shibirghan prison
controlled by Gen. Dostum. Some 2,300 prisoners remained.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A12)

2002 May 6, The CIA fired a
missile from a Predator in an attempt to kill Gulbuddin Hekmatyar,
head of Hezb-e-Islami, and his top aides outside Kabul.
(SFC, 5/10/02, p.A22)

2002 May 12, US forces in
Afghanistan killed 5 enemy fighters and captured 32 during a raid at
Deh Rawod, north of Kandahar. US air strikes at Char Chine, killed 5
civilians.
(SFC, 5/14/02, p.A8)(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.A14)

2002 May 17, Coalition forces
battled enemy forces in Operation Condor in the Khost region. A
pan-Arab newspaper quoted Mullah Mohammed Omar as saying Osama bin
Laden is alive and that the future of the US in Afghanistan is
“fire, hell and total defeat."
(SFC, 5/18/02, p.A10)

2002 May 19, Sgt. Gene Arden
Vance (38), an American special forces soldier, was killed in
Afghanistan, when his unit came into contact with enemy forces.
Operation Mountain Lion began in an attempt to seal off the border.
(SFC, 5/20/02, p.A14)(NW, 8/26/02, p.39)

2002 May 23, The UN voted to
extend the mandate for an int’l. force in Afghanistan for 6 months
but with no expansion of troops or presence beyond Kabul.
(SFC, 5/24/02, p.A13)

2002 May 24, Coalition forces
near Kandahar captured 50 people from a compound that was said to be
a refuge for senior Taliban and al Qaeda leaders.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A12)

2002 Jun 8, A bus filled with
Afghan families returning from Pakistan plunged into the Kabul River
near Sarobi and 67 people were killed.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.A18)

2002 Jun 11, Afghanistan's
former king attended a long-awaited Loya Jirga, accompanied by
leaders of Hamid Karzai's interim government in a show of unity for
a tribal assembly. The assembly was delayed by 1 day as Zahir Shah
renounced any potential post.
(Reuters, 6/11/02)(SFC, 6/11/02, p.A1)(SFC,
6/12/02, p.A10)

2002 Jun 13, Afghanistan's
interim leader Hamid Karzai won endorsement from about two-thirds of
delegates at the Loya Jirga grand assembly, making him the most
likely candidate to win the presidency.
(Reuters, 6/13/02)(SFC, 6/14/02, p.A10)

2002 Jun 14, Pres. Hamid Karzai
outlined a list of national priorities that included building a
national army and police force, improving schools and health care
and creating jobs.
(SFC, 6/15/02, p.A3)

2002 Jun 19, In Afghanistan the
9-day grand council ended with the inauguration of Hamid Karzai as
president and the approval of his new Cabinet.
(SFC, 6/20/02, p.A6)

2002 Jun 20, Turkey took over
control of the 19-member peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.
(SFC, 6/21/02, p.A10)

2002 Jun 27-2002 Jun 28, In
Afghanistan an arsenal exploded at Spinbaldak and 19 people were
killed. A 1st blast was called both a controlled explosion and the
result of a rocket attack.
(SFC, 6/29/02, p.A12)(SSFC, 6/30/02, p.A15)

2002 Jul 1, In Afghanistan US
Air Force gunship killed 44-48 members of a wedding party in
Kakarak, Uruzgan province, during a major operation to track down
Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
(Reuters, 7/2/02)(SFC, 7/2/02, p.A1)(SFC, 7/4/02,
p.A9)(AP, 7/1/03)

2002 Jul 6, Gunmen assassinated
Afghan Vice President Haji Abdul Qadir (48) and his driver in broad
daylight in the capital Kabul. Qadir was a prominent Pashtun
businessman and was suspected of being involved in the opium trade.
(Reuters, 7/6/02)(SSFC, 7/7/02, p.A1)(SFC,
7/8/02, p.A3)

2002 Jul 7, Afghanistan's vice
president, Abdul Qadir, was buried with full military honors one day
after being assassinated.
(AP, 7/7/07)

2002 Jul 22, At least 12 people
have been killed in clashes between rival Afghan factions fighting
for control of the Sheen Dend district in the western province of
Herat.
(Reuters, 7/23/02)

2002 Jul 27, Five US soldiers
were wounded during a joint recon patrol east of Khost. 2 allied
Afghan militiamen were killed. On Aug 7 Sgt. Christopher James Speer
(28) of Albuquerque died from his wounds. Omar Khadr (15) was
arrested for throwing the grenade that mortally wounded Speer and
sent to Guantanamo. Khadr was born in Canada to a family with deep
ties to al-Qaida. In 2007 a military judge dismissed charges against
Khadr.
(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A6)(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.A4)(AP,
6/4/07)

2002 Jul 29, In Afghanistan, a
man identified by authorities as a would-be suicide bomber with more
than a half-ton of explosives in his car was stopped by a chance
traffic accident just 300 yards from the U.S. Embassy.
(AP, 7/29/03)

2002 Aug 7, In Afghanistan at
least 15 people were killed south of Kabul in a shootout between
police and recently escaped Pakistani members of al Qaeda.
(Reuters, 8/7/02)(SFC, 8/9/02, p.A14)

2002 Aug 9, In eastern
Afghanistan a powerful explosion ripped through an Afghan
construction firm's building in the city of Jalalabad, killing 21
people and injuring 85 others.
(AP, 8/9/02)(SFC, 8/10/02, p.A8)

2002 Aug 15, In Afghanistan
Ghulam Sakhi Bashi, deputy head of Gen. Dostum's 70th division, was
shot and killed during his son’s wedding ceremony in Charbolak,
about 30 kilometers to the west of Mazar-I-Sharif.
(Reuters, 8/18/02)

2002 Sep 4, In Afghanistan
Pres. Karzai announced a new currency to replace the array of
inflated banknotes issued by the Taliban and regional warlords.
Warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former US ally, called for a jihad
against US forces.
(SFC, 9/5/02, p.A11)(WSJ, 9/5/02, p.A1)

2002 Sep 5, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai survived an assassination attempt in the southern city
of Kandahar. The attack, by a man dressed in military uniform,
occurred shortly after a powerful car bomb in the capital killed at
least 26 people and wounded 150.
(Reuters, 9/6/02)(SFC, 9/6/02, p.A1)

2002 Sep 10, It was reported
that US forces in Afghanistan had launched Operation Champion Strike
in the Bermel Valley aimed at re-entering al Qaeda.
(SFC, 9/10/02, p.A5)

2002 Oct 29, Gul Rahman,
suspected of links to al-Qaida, was picked up from a home in
Islamabad and taken with four other people to a CIA black site
called the Salt Pit near the Kabul Airport. He was stripped naked,
doused in cold water and then left to die in the CIA-run prison.
Rahman died Nov. 20, 2002, but his identity was not known until
revealed by an Associated Press investigation in March 2010.
(AP, 1/5/11)

2002 Nov 11, In Afghanistan
police shot and killed at least 2 students during protests over poor
housing conditions at a dormitory in Kabul.
(SFC, 11/12/02, p.A11)(SFC, 11/12/02, p.A16)

2002 Dec 19, In Afghanistan a
grenade attack in Kabul injured 4 people including 2 French
citizens. 2 Afghan interpreters died from their wounds the next day.
(SFC, 12/21/02, p.A9)

2002 Dec 21, In Afghanistan 6
people in a German military helicopter and up to eight on the ground
were killed when the aircraft crashed before landing at an airport
near the capital Kabul.
(Reuters, 12/21/02)

2002 Dec, In Afghanistan two
inmates died one week apart at the Bagram prison near Kabul. They
were officially said to have died of natural causes but an enquiry
later revealed that they had been beaten, deprived of sleep and kept
constantly chained.
(AFP, 1/9/10)

2002 US soldiers at Bagram air
base roughed up an Afghan prisoner named Dilawar, who died shortly
after a 5-day beating. In 2005 an Army interrogator pleaded guilty
to assault and was demoted. Several other soldiers faced charges. In
2005 an Ohio-based Army reservist was reduced to private for the
beating.
(SFC, 8/4/05, p.A5)(SFC, 8/19/05, p.A3)

2003 Jan 11, Afghan warlord
Abdul Rashid Dostum released 50 members of the Taliban militia
captured during fighting more than a year ago.
(AP, 1/12/03)

2003 Jan 29, US troops took
Haji Shahzada (50) from his rural Afghan home in the early hours of
the morning and sent him on a bizarre journey to prison in Cuba.
Shahzada spent 4 years in jail before being returned home with a
letter of innocence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahzada_%28Guantanamo_Bay_detainee_952%29)(AFP,
1/9/12)
2003 Jan 29, Russia's Border
Guard Service said the US led anti-terror operation in Afghanistan
has done nothing to reduce the flow of illegal drugs from that
country.
(AP, 1/29/03)

2003 Jan 30, In Afghanistan 4
American soldiers were killed when special operations UH-60 Black
Hawk helicopter went down seven miles east of the Bagram Air Base
while on a training mission.
(AP, 1/31/03)(SFC, 1/31/03, p.A11)
2003 Jan 30, Sweden said it
will contribute $5.9 million to help Afghanistan repay debts to the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
(AP, 1/30/03)

2003 Feb 24,
Afghanistan’s minister of mines and industry died along with seven
other people when their plane crashed in the Arabian Sea shortly
after takeoff from the southern Pakistan port city of Karachi.
(AP, 2/24/03)

2003 Feb 25, In
southwestern Afghanistan assailants gunned down Habibullah Jan, a
district administrator in Nimroz province, as he left a mosque in
Dilaram.
(AP, 2/26/03)

2003 Mar 23, US and allied
Afghan forces clashed with militiamen loyal to a renegade warlord in
a battle that left up to 10 rebels dead. A US Air Force helicopter
on a mercy mission to help 2 injured Afghan children crashed in
southeastern Afghanistan, killing all 6 people on board.
(AP, 3/24/03)
2003 Mar 23, In northern
Afghanistan flooding and heavy rains killed at least 11 people and
damaged hundreds of houses.
(AP, 3/27/03)

2003 Mar 26, In Afghanistan
suspected Taliban rebels attacked a government checkpoint and 13
people were killed.
(WSJ, 3/27/03, p.A1)

2003 Apr 12, In eastern
Afghanistan a car packed with explosives exploded, killing four
people who apparently were planning a terrorist attack.
(AP, 4/13/03)

2003 Apr 16, NATO agreed to
take command of the UN peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. The NATO
stabilization force soon started in Kabul and then spread across the
country.
(AP, 4/16/03)(Econ, 3/28/09, p.69)
2003 Apr 16, In Afghanistan
Romanian troops found a large stash of weapons. Two caves there were
stuffed with thousands of rockets and more than 1.25 million rounds
of ammunition.
(AP, 4/18/03)

2003 Apr 23, In southern
Afghanistan Taliban fighters attacked a government office with
rockets and automatic weapons, setting off a four-hour shootout that
left two Afghan soldiers and three assailants dead.
(AP, 4/24/03)

2003 May 1, Sec. of Defense
Rumsfeld visited Afghanistan and declared most of the nation secure.
He said the 9,000 US soldiers there were engaged mainly in
reconstruction.
(WSJ, 5/2/03, p.A1)

2003 May 7, In Afghanistan
Habibullah, a Muslim cleric close to U.S.-backed President Hamid
Karzai, was killed outside a mosque in the village of Kalacha.
(AP, 5/11/03)

2003 May 20, Afghan governors
signed an agreement with President Hamid Karzai to pay vital customs
revenues to the central government. Karzai had threatened to resign
due to lack of revenue payments.
(AP, 5/20/03)(WSJ, 5/20/03, p.A1)

2003 May 21, American troops
guarding the US Embassy in Kabul shot and killed four Afghan
soldiers, apparently mistaking them for assailants.
(AP, 5/21/03)

2003 Jun 4, In Afghanistan 40
Taliban suspects were killed in one of the deadliest exchanges
between Taliban and government troops since the hardline religious
regime was overthrown in late 2001. 7 government soldiers also died
in the nine hours of fighting in three villages north of Spinboldak,
near the border with Pakistan.
(AP, 6/5/03)

2003 Jun 7, In Afghanistan a
car packed with explosives pulled up to a bus carrying German
peacekeepers in Kabul and detonated, killing four and a teenage
Afghan bystander. More than two dozen were wounded in the first
fatal attack on the international force.
(AP, 6/7/04)

2003 Jun 21, In Afghanistan
Abdul Wali (28), a detainee held at a US base, died following 2 days
of interrogation. In 2004 David A. Passaro, former Army Ranger, was
charged with assault in connection to Wali’s death. In 2006 Passaro,
a former CIA contractor, was convicted in North Carolina of
assaulting Abdul Wali with a metal flashlight. In 2007 Passaro was
sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison.
(SFC, 6/18/04, p.A1)(SFC, 8/18/06, p.A5)(SFC,
2/14/07, p.A3)

2003 Jul 17, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai announced the creation of a 500-member grand council,
or loya jirga, to approve a new constitution for the country this
year.
(AP, 7/17/03)

2003 Aug 11, In Afghanistan
NATO took command of the 5,000-strong international peacekeeping
force in Kabul, its 1st deployment outside Europe.
(AP, 8/11/03)

2003 Aug 12, At least 20
combatants died in a gunbattle between suspected Taliban fighters
and Afghan government soldiers.
(AP, 8/13/03)

2003 Aug 13, In southern
Afghanistan a bomb ripped through a bus in Lashkargah, killing 15
people, including six children. Officials blamed al-Qaida and
remnants of the Taliban militia for the bombing, the deadliest in
nearly a year. Heavy fighting erupted between government soldiers
and Taliban remnants. 43 deaths were reported in the fighting.
(AP, 8/13/03)(AP, 8/14/03)

2003 Sep 1, Suspected Taliban
fighters attacked a government checkpoint and ambushed another group
of Afghan soldiers along the main road linking the south with the
capital, killing at least eight soldiers over the last 2 days.
(AP, 9/1/03)

2003 Sep 5, Afghan forces in
the southern province of Zabul captured five fugitive Taliban
militants, including an insurgent leader, after a battle that killed
scores of rebels. Coalition forces killed Mullah Abdul Razzaq
Hafees, a Taliban commander, and 19 other militants in fighting in
southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 9/6/03)(AP, 10/6/03)

2003 Sep 7, The top American
commander in Afghanistan said Taliban fighters, paid and trained by
al-Qaida, were pouring into Afghanistan from Pakistan.
(AP, 9/8/03)

2003 Sep 8, In Afghanistan
suspected Taliban rebels stopped a car carrying Afghans working for
a Danish aid organization, tied them up, then shot four of them to
death.
(AP, 9/10/03)

2003 Sep 14, Hafiz Abdul Rahim,
a top commander of the former Taliban regime who allegedly led rebel
fighters in southern Afghanistan, was killed along with 14 other
fighters in a shootout with Afghan forces.
(AP, 9/16/03)

2003 Sep 18, In Afghanistan US
forces killed at least 11 Taliban in fighting over the last 3 days
as part of operation "Mountain Viper," which has been going on for
more than two weeks. US helicopters attacked a tent in southern
Afghanistan, killing two Taliban militants and 10 nomadic tribesmen
after the Taliban sought shelter there. Local Taliban commander,
Mullah Mohammed Gul Niazi, was among the dead.
(AP, 9/18/03)(AP, 9/20/03)
2003 Sep 18, In Afghanistan US
helicopter fire left 5 women and four children dead and six people
wounded in the Nuabahar district.
(AP, 9/25/03)

2003 Oct 2, Two Canadian
peacekeepers were killed and three were injured in a land-mine blast
in the Afghan capital Kabul.
(Reuters, 10/2/03)
2003 Oct 2, Pakistan's army
launched its largest offensive against al-Qaida and other militants
in a rugged tribal region bordering Afghanistan, killing at least 12
suspects.
(AP, 10/2/03)

2003 Oct 3, Afghan civilians
accidentally set off an explosive inside a home near Bagram Air Base
American military headquarters, killing seven people and wounding
six others.
(AP, 10/3/03)

2003 Oct 9, Rival warlords in
northern Afghanistan said that they had reached a truce after
fighting killed dozens of people.
(AP, 10/9/03)

2003 Oct 17, In eastern
Afghanistan a bomb blew up a pickup truck on a dirt road, killing
four people, and two Afghan soldiers were killed in a land mine
explosion in the country's south.
(AP, 10/19/03)

2003 Oct 19, Afghan movie
"Osama" by director Siddiq Barmak won the top prize at Montreal's
New Movie and New Media Festival, one of the first features produced
in Afghanistan and nominated since the fall of the Taliban.
(Reuters, 10/19/03)

2003 Nov 11, An Afghan soldier
fired on a coalition convoy at a checkpoint in southern Afghanistan,
killing 1 Romanian soldier and wounding a convoy member before
escaping.
(AP, 11/12/03)

2003 Nov 16, In Afghanistan
Bettina Goislard, a French UN worker, was shot and killed by a man
on a motorcycle who opened fire on her car. In 2004 Zia Ahmad and
Abdul Nabi were sentenced to death for the murder.
(AP, 11/16/03)(SFC, 2/11/04, p.A3)

2003 Nov 18, Some 30 Taliban
guerrillas attacked a road checkpoint in southern Afghanistan,
killing three militiamen and wounding two others. The UN refugee
agency began pulling foreign staff out of Afghanistan after the
killing of French worker.
(AP, 11/19/03)(AP, 11/18/04)

2003 Dec 5, In eastern
Afghanistan 6 children were crushed to death by a collapsing wall
during an assault by U.S. forces on a weapons compound.
(AP, 12/10/03)

2003 Dec 6, In Kandahar,
Afghanistan, a bomb exploded in a bazaar, wounding about 20 people,
at least three seriously, in an attack that a Taliban spokesman said
targeted, but missed, American soldiers who shop there.
(AP, 12/6/03)
2003 Dec 6, In eastern
Afghanistan a US air strike apparently killed 9 children and a
suspected militant near the village of Hutala.
(AP, 12/7/03)(SFC, 12/8/03, p.A12)

2003 Dec 16, In Afghanistan
several dozen delegates broke away from a crucial constitutional
assembly to celebrate the inauguration of the Kabul-Kandahar
highway, a vital artery linking the capital with the lawless and
poverty-stricken south.
(AP, 12/16/03)

2003 Dec 17, In Afghanistan
Malalai Joya (25) created an uproar at the constitutional assembly
when she questioned why her peers tolerated the presence of
criminals, a reference to the sacrosanct mujahedeen who fought the
Soviet Union and became warlords.
(SFC, 12/18/03, p.A3)

2003 Dec 20, Lt. Gen.
David W. Barno, the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan said he will
use his forces to open up the lawless south and east to development
aid, in a tactical switch to beat a stubborn insurgency threatening
next year's elections.
(AP, 12/20/03)

2003 Dec 28, Five Afghan
security officials were killed in Kabul when a suicide bomber they
had detained blew himself up.
(Reuters, 12/28/03)

2003 Dec 31, Security forces
boarded a bus in Macedonia and snatched a German citizen named
Khaled el-Masri (b.1963). For the next five months, el-Masri was a
ghost. Only a select group of CIA officers knew he had been whisked
to a secret prison for interrogation in Afghanistan. He was the
wrong guy. El-Masri was dumped in Albania in a remote hillside on
May 28, 2004, without explanation or apology. Five months later
Germany withdrew warrants for the arrest of 13 CIA agents.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri)(AP, 2/9/11)(SSFC,
3/6/11, p.F6)

2004 Jan 1, Afghanistan's
constitutional convention came off the rails, as panicked officials
adjourned the gathering in the face of a boycott by opponents of
President Hamid Karzai. Tajik and Uzbek delegates mounted a boycott
demanding that minority rights be guarded.
(AP, 1/1/04)(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.A1)

2004 Jan 4, Rival Afghan
factions agreed to a new national constitution. 502 delegates
accepted a system with a strong president and a weaker parliament.
(AP, 1/4/04)(SFC, 1/5/04, p.A1)

2004 Jan 6, In Afghanistan a
time bomb in an apple cart blast killed at least 17 people,
including 8 children, in the southern city of Kandahar. 12 civilians
were executed in Helmand Province.
(SFC, 1/7/04, p.A10)(SFC, 1/9/04, p.A12)(AP,
1/6/05)

2004 Jan 17, A Taliban ambush
near Kandahar left 5 Afghans dead.
(WSJ, 1/19/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 17, A U.S. helicopter
attacked a house in Saghatho village in southern Afghanistan,
killing 11 people, four of them children. The US military said that
only 5 militants were killed. President Hamid Karzai later said 10
Afghan civilians were killed in the US strike.
(AP, 1/19/04)(SFC, 1/20/04, p.A3)(AP, 1/31/04)

2004 Jan 26, President Hamid
Karzai signed Afghanistan's new constitution into law, putting into
force a charter meant to reunite his war-shattered nation and help
defeat a virulent Taliban insurgency.
(AP, 1/26/04)

2004 Jan 27, In Afghanistan a
Taliban suicide bomber struck a convoy of the NATO-led security
force in the capital, killing a Canadian soldier and an Afghan
civilian.
(AP, 1/27/04)

2004 Jan 28, In Afghanistan a
suicide car bomber blew himself up in a taxi next to British
peacekeepers patrolling the Kabul, killing one soldier and wounding
four.
(AP, 1/28/04)

2004 Jan 31, In Deh Rawood,
Afghanistan, a remote-controlled bomb, thought to have been planted
by Taliban or al-Qaida fighters, exploded as a southern Afghan mayor
and his family drove by, killing him and seven relatives.
(AP, 2/1/04)

2004 Feb 5, In northeastern
Afghanistan rival armed factions clashed and a state television
report said 20 people were killed.
(AP, 2/7/04)

2004 Feb 8, In northeastern
Afghanistan 4 days of fighting between rival warlords over control
of the drug trade left 7 dead and 8 wounded.
(SFC, 2/9/04, p.A3)

2004 Feb 11, In eastern
Afghanistan a suicide attacker fatally shot a senior intelligence
official in Khost, then blew himself up as guards tried to arrest
him.
(AP, 2/11/04)(WSJ, 2/12/04, p.A1)

2004 Feb 25, In Afghanistan
gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying Afghan aid workers east of
the capital, killing five and wounding two others.
(AP, 2/26/04)

2004 Mar 5, U.S. special
operations forces killed nine suspected Taliban rebels in a
firefight in eastern Afghanistan after the militants tried to sneak
by their position.
(AP, 3/6/04)
2004 Mar 5, Suspected Taliban
gunmen killed a Turkish engineer and an Afghan soldier after
stopping their car along a main road linking the capital with the
turbulent south.
(AP, 3/5/04)

2004 Mar 13, In Afghanistan
Taliban armed with rockets and heavy machine guns attacked a
government office near the Afghan-Pakistan border, sparking a
firefight that killed one Afghan soldier and three Taliban.
(AP, 3/14/04)

2004 Mar 20, It was reported
that at least 56 people, virtually all young married or soon-to-be
married women, had set themselves ablaze in Herat, Afghanistan, over
the past year.
(Econ, 3/20/04, p.44)

2004 Mar 21, Afghan aviation
minister Mirwais Sadiq was assassinated in the western city of
Herat.
(AP, 3/21/04)

2004 Mar 22, Afghan soldiers
deployed to the western city of Herat after some of the fiercest
factional fighting since the 2001 fall of the Taliban killed a
Cabinet minister and as many as 100 others.
(AP, 3/22/04)

2004 Apr 8, In Afghanistan
troops loyal to ethnic Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum overran
Maymana, the center of Faryab province. In the south, clashes left
at least 7 people dead, including two Afghan soldiers, and two
police officers killed in an attack by suspected Taliban
(AP, 4/8/04)(SFC, 4/9/04, p.A3)

2004 Apr 14, In Afghanistan
killed a district police chief and eight Afghan soldiers in an
ambush in southern Zabul province.
(AP, 4/15/04)

2004 Apr 20, Afghanistan
carried out its first execution since the fall of the hardline
Taliban, putting a bullet to the head of a former military commander
convicted of more than 20 murders. "During his detention, Abdullah
Shah reportedly revealed first hand evidence against several
regional commanders currently in positions of power against whom no
charges have been brought."
(AP, 4/27/04)

2004 Apr 22, Pat Tillman,
former safety for the Arizona Cardinals, was killed in an ambush in
Afghanistan. He had walked away from millions of dollars to join the
Army Rangers and serve his country. In late May the Army said that
Tillman was likely killed by friendly fire. In 2005 a new Army
report said top officials held back information that Tillman was
killed by “friendly fire." In 2007 a Pentagon report found no plot
to conceal evidence, but recommended that officers be held
accountable for making misleading statements about Tillman’s death.
A general was censured on July 31, 2007. In 2009 Jon Krakauer
authored “Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman."
(AP, 4/24/04)(AP, 5/29/04)(SFC, 5/4/05,
p.A9)(SFC, 3/27/07, p.A1)(WSJ, 8/1/07, p.A1)(SSFC, 9/20/09, p.B1)

2004 May 2, In Afghanistan a
fuel-truck explosion killed at least 50 people in western Herat.
(WSJ, 5/3/04, p.A1)(AP, 5/3/04)

2004 May 4, In Afghanistan 2
foreign contractors helping the UN prepare for landmark elections
and their Afghan driver were killed in an attack in a remote eastern
province. The bullet-ridden bodies of 10 government soldiers were
found in southern Afghanistan, hours after the men were abducted in
two raids by suspected Taliban militants.
(AP, 5/5/04)

2004 May 11, Taliban guerrillas
killed two Afghan soldiers on a U.S.-funded highway in a troubled
southeastern province where American troops continue to arrest
suspected militants.
(AP, 5/12/04)

2004 May 15, Suspected
insurgents attacked a coalition combat patrol in southern
Afghanistan, killing one American soldier and wounding two others.
At least 122 U.S. troops have died, 53 killed in action, since the
start of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 to topple the Taliban
regime for harboring al-Qaida.
(AP, 5/16/04)

2004 May 18, In Afghanistan
U.S. forces killed 3 Taliban commanders and arrested five more
members of the hardline militia.
(AP, 5/21/04)

2004 May 20, In Afghanistan 3
suspected militants were killed and 23 people detained after 4 U.S.
soldiers were shot and wounded during raids against militia forces
in Tani district. Residents claimed a case of mistaken identities.
(AP, 5/21/04)

2004 May 29, In southern
Afghanistan 4 members of the American special forces were killed in
action in Zabul province, a stronghold of Taliban militants.
(AP, 5/29/04)
2004 May 29, Taliban guerrillas
riding in a fleet of vehicles shot up a government office in
southern Afghanistan, killing four Afghan soldiers.
(AP, 5/30/04)

2004 Jun 1, In eastern
Afghanistan a bomb planted under the chair of a city police chief
exploded, killing him and wounding two government officials.
(AP, 6/1/04)

2004 Jun 9, An Afghan commander
said that Afghan and U.S. forces killed more than 70 Taliban rebels
in a seven-day operation in a mountainous southern district,
including at least 20 militants who died in a single clash.
(AP, 6/9/04)

2004 Jun 15, Afghanistan’s
Pres. Karzai met with Pres. Bush and spoke before the US Congress
thanking Americans for removing the Taliban. He also noted that
opium production now made up over 40% of the country’s gross
domestic product.
(SFC, 6/16/04, p.A3)

2004 Jun 16, In northern
Afghanistan a remote-controlled bomb hit a convoy of German
peacekeepers, killing an Afghan driver and three civilians.
(AP, 6/16/04)

2004 Jun 17, In Afghanistan
fighters loyal to several regional warlords stormed Chagcharan, a
provincial capital of western Ghor province, and forced the governor
to flee.
(AP, 6/18/04)

2004 Jun 24, In eastern
Afghanistan 2 U.S. Marines were killed and another was wounded in an
attack at Kunar province.
(AP, 6/25/04)

2004 Jun 25, In southern
Afghanistan suspected Taliban gunmen sprayed a van with bullets
after finding that occupants had registered to vote. some 10-16
people were killed.
(SFC, 6/28/04, p.A6)(AP, 6/25/05)

2004 Jul 11, It was reported
that Jonathan Keith Idema (1956-2012), former US special operations
soldier, was recently arrested along with Brent Bennet and Edward
Caraballo for running a vigilante anti-terrorism campaign in Kabul.
They had posed as government officials and imprisoned innocent
Afghan men. Caraballo was released April 30, 2006, after serving 21
months of a 2-year sentence. Idema and Bennet continued to serve
their 5 and 3 year sentences.
(SSFC, 7/11/04, p.A10)(SFC, 5/1/06, p.A8)(Econ,
2/4/12, p.98)
2004 Jul 11, A bomb exploded on
a bustling street of Herat, Afghanistan, killing five people, and
injuring 29.
(AP, 7/11/04)

2004 Jul 13, American troops in
Afghanistan numbered about 17,000 with some 140,000 serving in Iraq.
(WSJ, 7/13/04, p.A1)

2004 Jul 20, In Afghanistan US
forces killed one militant and captured 5 others including a brother
of Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
(SFC, 7/21/04, p.A9)
2004 Jul 20, Pakistani
officials acknowledged the closing and bulldozing of 2 refugee camps
Zarinoor 1 & 2 in South Waziristan. The government had decided
to dismantle all camps within 3 miles of the Afghan border.
(SFC, 7/21/04, p.A9)

2004 Jul 21, In Afghanistan 10
militant fighters were killed and 5 wounded and captured when they
attacked a US-led force near Kandahar.
(SFC, 7/22/04, p.A3)

2004 Jul 26, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai formally filed his candidacy for October presidential
elections and chose a brother of late resistance hero Ahmad Shah
Masoud as his running mate for vice president.
(AP, 7/26/04)

2004 Jul 28, A bomb exploded in
a mosque where Afghans were registering for upcoming elections,
killing six people including two U.N. staffers.
(AP, 7/28/04)

2004 Jul 31, In southern
Afghanistan gunmen killed a local government leader and four of his
bodyguards in an ambush.
(AP, 7/31/04)

2004 Aug 4, It was reported
that LeapFrog Enterprises would donate 20,000 interactive women’s
health books to Afghan women under a $1.25 million development and
distribution grant from the US Dept. of health and Human Services.
(SFC, 8/4/04, p.C1)

2004 Aug 8, The US military
said 2 American soldiers and their Afghan interpreter died when a
bomb hit their Humvee.
(AP, 8/8/04)

2004 Aug 14, In western
Afghanistan rival militias clashed, reportedly killing 21 people.
Eight militiamen, including two commanders, were killed when
fighting erupted between two rival warlords over control of a
western district.
(AP, 8/14/04)

2004 Aug 18, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai's 17 rivals in the presidential race threatened to
boycott landmark October 9 elections unless he stepped down before
the vote.
(AP, 8/18/04)

2004 Aug 21, In Afghanistan US
soldiers opened fire on a pickup truck that failed to stop at a
checkpoint in central Ghazni province, killing a man and two women.
(AP, 8/22/04)

2004 Aug 23, Afghan Pres. Hamid
Karzai arrived in Pakistan for talks with his Pres. Pervez Musharraf
on eradicating Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters from their common
border.
(AP, 8/23/04)

2004 Aug 28, An explosion
ripped through a school in southeastern Afghanistan, killing nine
youngsters and one adult.
(AP, 8/29/04)

2004 Aug 29, In Afghanistan an
explosion tore through the office of DynCorp., an American defense
contractor, in the heart of Kabul, killing 12 people, including 3
Americans.
(AP, 8/29/04)(SFC, 8/31/04, p.A8)(WSJ, 8/31/04,
p.A1)(WSJ, 8/31/04, p.A1)

2004 Aug 30, US warplanes
bombed Weradesh village in eastern Afghanistan, killing 8 people and
destroying the camp of a Danish relief group after assailants
rocketed a nearby government office.
(AP, 8/31/04)

2004 Sep 15, Three Americans
accused of torturing Afghans in a private jail were found guilty in
a Kabul court after a trial denounced by the defense as failing to
meet basic international standards of fairness.
(AP, 9/15/04)

2004 Sep 25, Afghan security
forces killed a senior Taliban commander and two of his comrades in
southern Afghanistan. Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar, a former inmate at the
US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, died in the gunbattle.
(AP, 9/26/04)

2004 Sep 28, The Pentagon
notified Congress of plans to build five bases in Afghanistan for
the Afghan National Army at a cost of up to one billion dollars.
(AP, 9/28/04)

2004 Oct 2, Afghan intelligence
agents backed by international peacekeepers arrested 25 people
allegedly linked to the Taliban and al-Qaida in an early morning
raid in eastern Kabul.
(AP, 10/2/04)

2004 Oct 9, Afghanistan's first
direct presidential election was thrust into turmoil hours after it
started when all 15 candidates challenging interim leader Hamid
Karzai alleged fraud over the ink meant to ensure people voted only
once and vowed to boycott the results.
(AP, 10/9/04)(SSFC, 10/10/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 9, An exit poll
conducted by an American non-profit group found that interim Afghan
president Hamid Karzai won the first-ever presidential election with
the outright majority needed to avoid a second round.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 9, US forces in
Afghanistan fought militants on the ground and aircraft bombed them
in a clash that left 25 rebels dead before the nation's landmark
elections.
(AP, 10/9/04)

2004 Oct 11, The main
opposition candidate in Afghanistan's first-ever presidential
election backed off a boycott of the vote, saying he would accept
the formation of an independent commission to look into alleged
cheating.
(AP, 10/11/04)

2004 Oct 14, The US Army
announced that up to 28 U.S. soldiers face possible criminal charges
in connection with the deaths of two prisoners at an American-run
prison in Afghanistan two years ago.
(AP, 10/14/04)

2004 Oct 23, A purported
Taliban militant set off grenades strapped to his body on a bustling
Kabul street, killing Jamie Michalsky (23), an American woman, and
an Afghan girl.
(AP, 10/24/04)(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A3)

2004 Oct 25, Hamid Karzai was
assured of a majority in Afghanistan's election to become its first
democratically chosen president. A close to final tally soon gave
Karzai 55.4% of the vote.
(AP, 10/25/04)(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A12)

2004 Oct 26, The final vote
count in the Afghan presidential election gave a sounding victory to
interim leader Hamid Karzai.
(AP, 10/26/05)

2004 Oct 28, A breakaway
Taliban group abducted three foreign UN workers from Kabul because
they assisted Afghanistan's "fake election" and threatened to kill
them if a rescue mission was launched.
(AP, 10/29/04)

2004 Nov 3, Hamid Karzai was
officially declared the winner of Afghanistan's first-ever
presidential election after a 3-week probe into vote fraud found no
grounds to invalidate his triumph.
(AP, 11/3/05)

2004 Nov 18, A UN report said
opium and heroin production in Afghanistan had rocketed to near
record levels. It accounted for over 60% of Afghan GDP and 87% of
world supply.
(SFC, 11/19/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A1)

2004 Nov 21, US led troops
mounted overnight raids on suspected al-Qaida compounds in eastern
Afghanistan, killing four people and detaining several others.
(AP, 11/21/04)

2004 Dec 15, In eastern
Afghanistan the body of a kidnapped Turkish engineer was found, a
day after he was snatched with his driver and interpreter by a band
of armed men.
(AP, 12/15/04)

2004 Dec 17, Afghan forces
retook control of Pul-e-Charkhi, the country's largest jail,
following a day-long standoff. 4 inmates and 4 guards were killed in
the violence.
(AP, 12/17/04)(SFC, 12/18/04, p.A8)

2004 Dec 19, A vehicle carrying
a group of suspected Taliban fighters attacked a military checkpoint
in southern Afghanistan, sparking a firefight that left six dead.
(AP, 12/20/04)

2004 Dec 23, Afghan Pres. Hamid
Karzai chose a new Cabinet, heeding calls to sideline warlords from
top positions, including the defense minister, and creating a new
post to oversee the fight against opium production.
(AP, 12/23/04)

2004 In Afghanistan Nizar
Habibi served as Kabul’s chief price controller. Prices were limited
by 5% profits in order to ensure that the poor could afford to eat.
(WSJ, 10/8/04, p.A15)
2004 In Afghanistan Ahmed Wali
Karzai, the brother of Pres. Karzai, was implicated in an enormous
cache of heroin found hidden beneath concrete blocks in a
tractor-trailer outside Kandahar. Security forces released the
vehicle and the drugs following a call from Ahmed Wali Karzai, later
chief of the Kandahar Provincial Council.
(SSFC, 10/5/08, p.A23)
2004 In Afghanistan Radio
Watanda began broadcasting from a basement in a suburb of Kabul.
Listeners soon discovered that they could use it as a platform to
harangue the authorities.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.50)